


Shinigami's Child

by Madrigal_in_training



Category: Naruto
Genre: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) Feels, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Ghostly Sakumo, Ghostly Shisui, Naruto Knows About Her Heritage, naruto can see ghosts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2018-12-30 09:28:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12105735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madrigal_in_training/pseuds/Madrigal_in_training
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki dislikes ghosts. She especially dislikes the ghost of that absurdly cheerful Uchiha boy who refuses to leave her alone. Shisui x femNaruto





	1. Chapter 1

When Naruko was five years old, she discovered that no one else could see the man with the spiky silver hair and sad grey eyes.

She had been sitting on the floor of the orphanage, telling the older man of her day in the happy, rapid burbling of a child, when Grandfather Hokage came in. Naruko had been alone in the room, since the Matron shied away from her presence and the other children weren't allowed to play with her, but she was content with that. The worn wooden floors were comfortable, she had her Gama-chan doll, and the bright sunlight streaming in from the large window illuminated all the dust motes in the air like daylight fireflies. And the man with the silver hair was sitting quietly besides her, occasionally nodding when she gestured a particularly important point.

"Ojiisan!" Naruko noted with startled excitement. The small child scrambled up to her feet and, in only a few paces since the room was small, embraced the old man. He smelled comfortably of books, ink, smoke, and- what Naruko generally referred to as- 'old person'.

"Hello Naruko," the man smiled, returning her hug, "I'm glad to see you. Have you eaten yet?"

"Nope!" Naruko grinned, since even if she already had eaten, ojiisan would have wanted a 'no', so he could take her out for a meal.

"Hmm, are you sure about that?" Sarutobi Hiruzen teased, bending down slowly to look the child in the eyes, "I don't hear your stomach grumbling…"

Naruko pouted. "A lady's stomach doesn't grumble ojiisan!"

Hiruzen chuckled. "Where did you hear that?"

"Haruki-san said so," Naruko answered, matter-of-fact. She stuck her nose in the air and imitated the stern, nasally tones of one of the workers. "'A lady's stomach must never grumble, and a lady's smile must never slip, and a lady's hands must never- ever- be idle.'"

"Ah, then I offer you my most sincerest apologies, Naruko-chan," the old man stood back up and offered her a hand, "May I have the honor of your presence for today's lunch?"

The blonde girl giggled, breaking the solemn gesture. "Sure! Can we have ramen?" she asked eagerly. She slipped her small hand into ojiisan's larger one.

"Yes, I think a bowl of Ichiraku's would hit the spot now," Hiruzen said, turning around and tugging at her. When she didn't move, he looked back in mild curiosity. "Naruko?"

Naruto hesitated, looked back at the silver-haired man and squared her shoulders. "Can my friend come?"

The Sandaime looked surprised, and then delighted by her question. "I don't see anything wrong with that, my girl," he replied, "I'm glad you made a new friend. Where is she?"

Naruko looked at him oddly. "It's a he, ojiisan. And he's right over there." She turned and pointed to the man with the spiky silver hair, who looked briefly hopeful and then adopted a resigned expression. He gave her a small, sad smile.

"Who's there, Naruko?" Hiruzen asked, stepping forward and looking at the empty space with a wary eye, "Is your friend hiding?"

"What? No! He's  _right over there_." She gestured forward, "See? He's smiling at you!"

The Sandaime's face ran through a series of expressions: concern, worry, understanding, and finally, sadness. "There's no one there, Naruko-chan," he told her gently, "I believe you've created an imaginary friend… perfectly understandable. Does he have a name?"

Naruko gaped at the Hokage, before looking over at the silver haired man again. The man offered her a short wave, before stepping back and fading into the woodwork. The sunlight wavered briefly as he abruptly disappeared.

"He went away!" Naruko said, dismayed, "He's gone, ojiisan. You scared him!"

"I'm sorry, Naruko," the Sandaime answered, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly, "But I'm sure that he'll be back. Why don't we have something to eat in the mean time?"

Naruko's blue eyes fastened on the space where the man was for a second longer, before she looked away. "Okay, ojiisan." She plastered a grin on her whiskered face, grabbed his hand, and dragged him, laughing, through the door.

She looked back once as the Hokage stepped forward to take the lead. The silver haired man was standing by her window again, with a single finger raised to smiling lips. She returned the smile, and turned away.

It would be their secret.

x

Naruko had always had seen the ghosts. She didn't know that they were ghosts at first. Isolated for most of her life, Naruko found solace in the men and women, and occasionally child, who would waver in the light and easily walk through solid objects. For the most part they ignored her too, intent on going to where they needed to go or repetitively performing some task. They wouldn't last for very long. Sometimes they would be there for an hour, or a day, or a week before they disappeared, and Naruko never saw them again.

The silver-haired man was the only one who lasted for very long. He never spoke to her, but he would always sit by her bed every morning, smile and nod as he listened to her stories, and occasionally card his fingers through her hair. His fingers were always cold, but Naruko welcomed the touch, because it was almost like having a parent.

She asked him if he was her father one day, but he shook his head and looked apologetic. She never asked again.

On a subconscious level, Naruko knew that what she could see wasn't normal. The silver haired man was invisible to everyone else, and that was why she didn't press ojiisan about him when they went out for ramen. Naruko was the only one who could see the silver haired man, and that was just the way she liked it. He would be her special little secret.

She did want him to confirm her suspicions though.

"Ano… shinobi-san?" she asked, slightly more timid than usual, after she had gotten into her sleeping clothes and snuggled under the covers. The silver-haired man was sitting besides her bed, patiently waiting for her to wish him goodnight as was their night time ritual. Afterward, he would disappear until the morning.

In the few times that Naruko addressed him, she did so by his shinobi title. He still had a shiny hitai-ate on his forehead, with the symbol for Konoha engraved on it. The man turned his face towards her, and cocked his head in question.

"A-are you a ghost?" she stammered out. It's not that she was afraid! It was just that this was a g-ghost… Naruko shrunk a little deeper into her cover.

The man had a look of mild surprise on his face as he nodded.

Gaining some more courage, she ventured forth. "Are you going to eat me?"

Appearing a little amused, he shook his head negative. Naruko breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you going to leave soon?" she demanded, now finding a different concern. Again, he shook his head negative, and she smiled brightly.

"Then I need to find something to call you," she declared, "How about Inu-oji, since you shake your head like a wagging dog?"

His eyes widened, possibly at her impudence, before he doubled over in silent laughter. Naruto frowned and pushed herself up to a sitting position. "You don't like it?"

Inu-oji laughed for a few seconds longer, before he looked up with a sheepish smile. He pointed to himself and moved his mouth slowly. It took a few seconds for Naruko to squint before she read the words "Inu-oji" on his lips. She grinned in triumph and laid back in bed.

"Goodnight Inu-oji," Naruko said, turning around and closing her eyes. Though she couldn't see him or hear him, the blonde girl knew that he would be mouthing a goodbye back.

x

Two more years passed before Naruko was acknowledged by another ghost. She was just starting her first year at the Academy- well, technically it was the second, since she had failed last year- when the boy appeared. Naruko could tell that he was a ghost, and not a human. It wasn't just the flickering edges of his body or the cold feeling she got when she stood a few feet away from him. It was the emptiness Naruko felt through her peripheral senses… a hole almost in the area that he stood, that used to be filled with warmth and little wisps of chakra.

She had thought that it was Inu-oji at first, which would have been odd since the silver-haired man only visited her when it was time to walk to the Academy and was always prompt. Her questioning nature caused her to gently push open her bedroom door, and silently creep over to the living room. That was when she got her first look at him.

The boy was tall and lanky, with messy black hair that fell over his forehead in unruly curls. His skin was very pale, but his facial structure was what Naruko heard some women refer to as classically handsome. The features were all sharp and symmetrical, and two dark red eyes with long, well-defined eyelashes were inset on his face. His eyes were both scary and beautiful: a four-point pinwheel around an ink-black pupil. He was probably a member of the old Uchiha Clan.

He didn't look very threatening, so Naruko ventured a question.

"Excuse me, Uchiha-san? This is my home. Will you be leaving here soon?"

He looked towards her with shock. "You can see me?"

x

 


	2. Chapter 2

“A-ah, Uzumaki-san, you can stop laughing now, you know…?” the ghostly boy said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “It really wasn’t that funny.” 

 

Naruto had the grace to turn her face away, though she did nothing to muffle the giggles. “I’m sorry, Uchiha-san, but your scream was so high-pitched, it couldn’t even belong to a girl. It was like Otaru-sensei’s, that one time Akemi-chan accidentally hit him in that  _ one _ spot.”  

 

“I just learned that a live human could see me,” the Uchiha protested, indignant, “I was allowed to scream a little in surprise!”

 

“You didn’t scream, Uchiha-san,” Naruto corrected, before her laughter overtook her once again, “You-” -choked gasp-“you  _ squealed _ . Like a pig.”

 

“For an eight year old, you definitely don’t pull any punches,” the boy said, grumpily, before his companion was overcome by another fit of laughter, “Fine, brat, get it out of your system then.” 

 

A second later, and the shadow of a smile also spread across his own face. 

 

“It  _ was  _ kind of funny, after all,” he admitted, beginning to chuckle himself. Now, it was Naruto’s turn to draw herself up and stare at him oddly.

 

“An Uchiha with a sense of humor?” she gasped, dramatically pointing at him, “Imposter!”

 

That only made him laugh even harder. “You have no idea how often I get that,” he chortled, before abruptly stopping and adding, in a more quiet voice, “Not that there’ll be many comparisons in the future. Is the Uchiha Clan gone?”

 

“They were all massacred a few days ago,” she answered, “Don’t you remember…?”

 

She looked at him curiously as he absorbed the words. The ghost boy didn’t pale- Naruto didn’t think they were capable of changing the hue of their skin- but he did blanche. The look on his face was one of distress and guilt, but not surprise.

 

“I died before the Massacre,” the Uchiha answered, “My body didn’t reform until today, and something drew me here. Uzumaki-san, can you tell me what happened?”

 

Naruto opened her mouth, about to apologetically refuse, but before she could say a word, she felt a familiar circle of coldness approaching. The ghostly Uchiha seemed to feel the same tugging on his senses, because he also looked up when a silver-haired man drifted through the door. When Inu-oji saw the other shinobi in the room, he paused and narrowed his eyes.

 

“Inu-oji!” Naruko exclaimed, “There you are! Let me get my bag, and we can head to to the Academy.”

 

“Wait! I need some answers first,” the Uchiha protested.

 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t be late on the first day of classes,” Naruto answered, “If you want to wait in the apartment, then I can try and answer your questions after school. -Inu-oji?” 

 

The silver-haired man pointed to the other ghost, and then swept his arm towards himself.

 

“Right! Er, Inu-oji, this is… who are you?” the blonde girl asked, embarrassed. 

 

“Shisui Uchiha,” the dark-haired Uchiha replied, a look of confusion spreading over his features, “Excuse me, ghost-san, but would you happen to be related to Kakashi Hatake?”

 

Naruto turned to face the silver-haired man so quickly, that she was pretty sure her neck suffered from whiplash. Inu-oji had living relatives?!

 

The man warily nodded, and mouthed a word to the Uchiha boy. Naruto had never been very good at reading lips, probably because they didn’t even teach the basics until her final year at the Academy, but the Uchiha boy understood. It may have even meant something important, from the impressed expression on his face.

 

“You’re Sakumo Hatake!” the Uchiha said, more for Naruto’s benefit than his own, “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”

 

_ ‘Inu-oji’s an important shinobi, _ ’ the Academy student realized, ‘ _ I wonder if I can learn more about him from the Academy history books. _ ’ 

 

Naruto would have pursued this line of thought, if Inu-oji- or Sakumo Hatake, apparently- hadn’t pressed a cool hand through her forehead. She shivered as the ghostly appendage sunk through her body, and focused her attention on the man. Inu-oji was pointing at the door, and then tapping his wrist impatiently, like those civilian merchants did with their watches. The he pointed at himself, at the ghostly Uchiha, and then her apartment floor.

 

“You want to stay here?” Naruto asked, to be sure. She couldn’t deny that she felt somewhat disappointed. The first day of school was a family event at the Academy, and unlike other orphans, she was lucky enough to have Inu-oji there to smile proudly at her entrance ceremony. Even if no one else knew he was there,  _ she _ did.

 

The silver-haired man nodded, looking rather unhappy with the circumstances as well. He held his hand out, a look of concentration on his features, and carded his fingers through her hair. Although they still lacked the distinct solidness and warmth of life, they didn’t sink easily into her body. Instead, the almost watery feeling, brought a warmth to Naruto’s chest, and gave her the grace to ignore the pitying expression on the Uchiha boy’s face. 

 

“I better go then, so I’m not late,” Naruto turned her eyes over to the Uchiha and glared, “If you upset Inu-oji, then you’ll have me to answer to!”

 

Despite the absurdity of such a threat from the living, much less an eight-year-old Academy student, the appearance of hard sapphire orbs made Shisui nod. Please by his response, a sunny smile crossed the girl’s face, and she grabbed her school bag, before hurriedly leaving the apartment.

 

“If I don’t run to the Academy, then I’ll have the worst seat all year!” 

 

xxxxxx

 

Once the blonde girl had left, the two males in the apartment regarded each other warily. The older shinobi wondered how the Uchiha had made contact with Naruto, and what he wanted from her, while the youngest was still in some awe over meeting a living- so to speak- legend.

 

Sakumo chose to speak first, “ _ How long have you been a ghost, Uchiha-san?” _

 

The dark-haired boy carefully paid attention to the older man’s mouth, to discern the message, and then replied, “You can call me Shisui, Hatake-san. I’ve just become a ghost today.”

 

_ “Then you felt drawn to Naruto?”  _ Sakumo assumed, making the younger man give a hesitant nod, “ _ I see. Then perhaps you should ask me questions about being a ghost first. You may also call me Sakumo.” _ __   
  


“Why can’t you talk?” Shisui immediately blurted out, and then added, “I’m sorry. That was rude.”

 

Sakumo waved his apologies away. “ _ I am not sure if this is the correct answer, but I have been a ghost for seventeen years now, and have made some observations along the way. We are, in our most fundamental form, a chakra imprint, made solely of yin chakra. This spiritual energy gives us an illusory shape, but that’s all it is. An illusion. We don’t have lungs to breath in oxygen, vocal chords to manipulate air pressure, or a larynx to calibrate pitch and tone. We cannot make sounds.” _

 

_ “ _ Naruto was able to hear me though,” Shisui frowned, with a dawning look of realization, “A localised auditory genjutsu? We can cast jutsu?” A look of approval crossed the silver-haired man’s face.

 

_ “Ninjutsu needs yin and yang release, and taijutsu is usually enhanced by yang chakra,”  _ Sakumo corrected,  _ “We are limited to yin chakra alone, of which you have much more than me. The Uchiha Sharingan relies almost entirely on yin release, and the Hatake white chakra is a yang mutation. Theoretically, we can cast jutsu, but I’ve never had enough yin energy to try, and I would advise you not to do it as well. Without a body to regulate it, they’ll be inefficient, and cost you more than you may intend.”  _

 

_ “ _ And we’ll need the yin chakra to have a form,” the dark-haired boy guessed, dryly. “Since you’ve been burning through it for seventeen years, then I guess it can replenish itself? Slowly?”

 

“ _ Very slowly,”  _ was the Hatake’s unhappy response,  _ “People who utilize yin chakra on a regular basis, like those ninja that specialize in genjutsu, are able to sense us, to an extent. They can’t see us, or hear us, but they shiver in our presence. Without knowing who or what we are, they know that something is there.” _

 

“We live in a shinobi village though, so why aren’t genjutsu users constantly shivering?” Shisui asked, slowly, “I can’t be the only shinobi with strong yin reserves, but Naruto sounded surprised that I could talk. Hasn’t she met any other Uchiha ghosts?”

 

Sakumo turned his face away, and a semblance of shame crossed his features. “ _ Most chakra imprints fade with weeks, or even days, of their existence. Before you came along, I believed that I was the only ghost cursed to linger among the living forevermore. I thought it was my punishment for killing myself.” _

 

“You killed yourself?” Shock rippled over red-and-black pinwheel eyes. He had known Sakumo of the White Fang died an ignoble death, but the details were stripped from the history books. Seeing the shame on the hero’s face, the younger shinobi marshaled his courage. “So did I. I drowned in the Naka River. Do you think that we have these forms because of our suicides?”

 

“ _ Not directly,”  _ the silver-haired man replied, after a lengthy pause to recollect his composure, “ _ Many shinobi have indirectly dug their own graves through alcohol or drugs. Even more have requested grave missions, but their spirits do not linger here. I believe that we are fastened by regret, of a dying will that chose to complete their final tasks.” _

 

“I wanted to restore my clan’s honor,” Shisui admitted, “To protect my younger cousin, Itachi.”

 

Had Shisui expected the other man to admit to his own dying wish, he would have been disappointed.

 

_ “Itachi Uchiha was branded a traitor to Konoha, _ ” Sakumo said, sharp eyes thoughtful, “ _ But the restoration of a clan’s honor relies on that same honor broken. Why did your cousin massacre the Uchiha Clan?” _

 

Shisui looked at the man, considered the options before him, and gave a single, measured nod. “There’s a lot I need to tell you. First, the Uchiha Clan was planning a coup d’etat…” 

 

xxxxxx

 

Naruto Uzumaki sat on the final seat, of the third row, beside the windows of Classroom 3A. She had learned her lesson last year about sitting in the front or back rows. The former would earn her classmate’s censure, draw her sensei’s ire, and remind her, yet again, that no one present wanted to acknowledge her existence. The latter would brand her- rightfully- as a troublemaker.

 

Her textbook was open to the wrong page, but she had rather read about a topic that interested her- such as the exploits of the Second Shinobi War. Naruto’s reading speed was painfully slow, but still possible, because even when she didn’t want to study as a child, Inu-oji’s baleful stare would make her stare fruitlessly at the words until  _ something _ sunk in. It seemed fitting that the necessary skill he would coax her to learn, would lead to Naruto searching for him now.

 

She didn’t have a name to go on before, and the textbook was piteously low on pictures, but now Naruto would not be deterred.

 

_ “-among the most powerful shinobi of Konohagakure was Konoha’s White Fang, Sakumo Hatake. He was the Jounin sub-commander of the Suna Invasion, and his most notable action was the vital strike against the Sunagakure Puppetry Division. Hatake was also involved in the assassination of Mitsuri Ayo, the Head of Intelligence for Iwagakure, and demolition of Nagari Pass in Tea Country. Another famous shinobi in the Second War was Jiraiya of the Sannin-” _

 

Naruto scanned the remainder of the page, and mentally pouted when she couldn’t find any more mentions of Inu-oji’s name. Still, this gave her a starting point to work with, and even more information on the man that was a little like a father to her. 

 

‘ _ He had a cool nickname too,’  _ Naruto mused, highly gratified, ‘ _ Way better than Toad Sannin anyway. Who wants to be known by those slimy, squirmy frogs? Ick.’ _

 

She felt the cold nudge of a ghostly presence, and looked eagerly towards the door for Inu-oji. She wanted to show the textbook to him! However, much to Naruto’s disappointment, the Uchiha boy came through instead.

 

“I need to speak to you,” the Uchiha said, insistently. He used that strange walking/floating leap movement of ghosts to drift in front of her. Thankfully, his incorporeal body meant that the sight behind him was only slightly fuzzy. “It’s incredibly important.”

 

Naruto ignored him, because of course she did. Her new classmates didn’t know that they were supposed to avoid her yet, but they’d soon decide to do it without parental intervention if she started talking to the air. Besides, it simply wasn’t in Naruto’s nature to go out of her way and help others.

 

A lifetime of village-sanctioned neglect and indifference could spawn any number of reactions, and for one blonde little girl, it was a cloak of self-absorption and detachment. Except for her annual token effort to befriend her peers, Naruto went out of her way to be as muted and discrete as possible.

 

Unfortunately, this boy refused to understand that.

 

“I  _ know  _ you can hear me,” he scowled, running his cold fingers over her back. Naruto barely kept herself from reacting; this was the embodiment of sending shivers down one’s spine. Stupid Uchiha.

 

“Ignoring me won’t make me go away,” the Uchiha continued, in a conversational tone, “It’s not like I have anything better to do since I’m ”- a hitch in his voice- “dead.”

 

Naruto drew her eyes to the side, looking into red-and-black pinwheels, and attempted to convey the entirety of her derision in one blank stare.

 

“Channeling your aloofness won’t work,” and the glibness was back, “My younger cousin was much better at it then you.”

 

“Go. Away,” Naruto mouthed, so softly as to be nearly silent. “I have  _ class _ now.”

 

“Yes, and you were paying so much attention to your sensei before,” the ghost boy scoffed, “I need to speak to you about a far more important matter.”

 

“ _ I don’t care, _ ” the blonde attempted to moderate her hiss, but the sibilant sound carried over.

 

“Uzumaki-san!” Toshio-sensei called out, sudden harshness entering his tone, “I’m aware that this history lecture may not be the most engaging subject available, but it will be important to your shinobi career. Since I’m assuming you came here to  _ be _ a shinobi, the only reason you would be ignoring my words were if you already knew the information. Do you, Uzumaki-san?”

 

The eight-year-old’s body froze, as she looked into angry dark brown eyes, and the curiously mocking gazes of the other students. Naruto was short for her age, and one year younger than the others, so her gaze fell squarely down onto sensei’s annoyed face. She couldn’t say anything.

 

“Can you tell me which country Hanzo of the Salamander came from?” Toshio-sensei questioned.

 

Naruto’s mouth dried, as she tried to wrack her brain for the answer. Wasn’t the toad guy mentioned with Hanzo? Was this a trick question? But she didn’t think Hanzo was a ninja of Konoha. “Er…”  

 

“Amegakure,” the ghost boy said in front of her.

 

Sapphire eyes flicked back into the infamous dojutsu. Naruto’s stomach clenched anxiously every time she saw the Sharingan. Still, it wasn’t like she had anything else to offer… “Amegakure?”

 

Surprise, and then a begrudging nod. “You’re correct, Uzumaki-san. But please try to be more attentive in class.”

 

“Yes, Taisho-sensei,” Naruto replied, nervously shifting her eyes once again, “May I go to the bathroom?”

 

Receiving the sensei’s permission, the blonde girl slipped out of her seat, took the steps two at a time, and then walked out the door. She headed towards the bathroom, but then made a sudden turn left and entered the empty janitor’s room. Lurking hesitantly in the darkness, Naruto waited until a beautifully ethereal boy entered the enclosed space.

 

“ _ I know he’s a ghost, but technically speaking, I’m having a clandestine meeting with a cute, older ninja boy,”  _ Naruto thought, trying to muffle her giggles, “ _ If the other girls knew, they would be having kittens right now.” _

 

It was difficult to see clearly, but Naruto was pretty sure the Uchiha was mildly freaked-out by her giggling. That only increased her mirth, because she should have guessed that the pretty boy would have had bad memories of fangirls. Inu-oji still did, and he was a grown man. 

 

“Well you got me to leave, Uchiha-san,” Naruto said, “What do you want to say?”

 

“Shisui,” the Uchiha- Shisui- reminded her, “I know this isn’t a set of circumstances that you’re happy with- and honestly, neither am I- but I can’t communicate with anyone else. And I need to ask you for an important favor.”

 

“What favor?” the blonde didn’t sound particularly eager. In her experience, important favors were nothing less than a time-intensive hassle.

 

“It’s a bit of an ongoing thing,” Shisui admitted, diminishing even more of her lackluster enthusiasm, “But I need you to talk to one of my cousins-”

 

“No,” Naruto hurriedly broke in. She knew full-well that the ghost boy only had one cousin left in Konoha, and that was not someone she had any interest in contacting. “I won’t be able to. Trust me on this, people like me are not allowed around clan heirs like your cousin.”

 

_ “Unless he wants me to contact the S-class genocidal maniac,” _ Naruto grimaced, “ _ Then his idea is even more absurd than it is now.” _

 

“I’m not saying it will be easy,” Shisui sighed. “Sasuke needs help-”

 

“I’m not a therapist,” she quickly interjected. “I don’t do touchy-feely bonding sessions.”

 

“Will you  _ stop _ interrupting me?” He glared at her. “That’s not what Sasuke needs right now! He needs someone to be there for him that isn’t an adult, who doesn’t care about his status, or isn’t pushed away by his pain. He needs his family, and he doesn’t have that because  _ they’re all dead _ , including me, so you’re the best he can get. You can talk to him for me, so I can at least _ try  _ to repay the debt I owe to Itachi!”

 

Naruto’s eyebrows rose. “No matter how much money you borrowed from Itachi Uchiha,” she said flatly, “His killing your entire clan keeps you from having to pay it.”

 

An ugly expression crossed his face, and for a minute Naruto thought he might try- and fail, she reminded herself- to hit her, but it passed by. Then he slumped, and a bitter smile twisted his face.

 

Naruto was well aware that she was being a bitch at this point, but that was fine. She did not want to get involved with this ghost boy, and the myriad of problems she just  _ knew _ he would bring. If being as unhelpful and rude as possible would drive him away, then it was a minor price to pay.

 

Being one’s only option though, apparently gave her more leeway than she had hoped.

 

Shisui took on a deep breath, and then fixed his Sharingan eyes on her. “You  _ will _ help me. You will help me not because you have to, but because you need to. You will help me because the person I’m trying to help is the same person you will feel indebted to. This entire village owes Itachi a debt, and I’m going to tell you why.”

 

xxxxxx


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Naruto was standing at the foot of an old apple tree, as she waited for the nurse to complete Sasuke’s early morning check-up. Despite the spring weather, there was a bite to the air, and, since she had dragged herself here at the kami-damned hour of 5AM, the area around the hospital was desolate. Once Shisui’s head popped through the second story window to give her a thumb’s up, Naruto began climbing.

 

Her hands unerringly found their way to the best handholds, and easily pulled her lightweight body up the craggy wooden trunk. It wasn’t a little-known fact about the blonde girl, that Naruto absolutely _loved_ climbing. Not necessarily the act itself, but being perched up in a high place, looking down at the world and being buffeted by the wind. It gave her a feeling of free-spirited wonder and running adrenaline to know that a second’s lost grasp could have her plummeting to the ground.

 

Naruto didn’t bother to suppress her chakra. For one, it was way too difficult for someone with her lackluster control, and for another, the Uchiha’s ANBU guards would spot it immediately. She wasn’t trying to hide from them anyway; it was only the prejudiced civilian nurses that would toss her out.

 

When she had reached eye-level with the top of the window, Naruto leaned over, grasped the edge and pulled the ledge open. Then she grasped the trunk tightly with one hand, straddled her knee over the ledge, and stumbled headfirst into the room. Her head contacted the linoleum floor with a distinctly dull-sounding  _ thud. _

 

“Owww,” Naruto moaned, sitting up and rubbing her head, “Stupid Uchiha. This is your fault.”

 

“I didn’t ask you to come here.” The quiet voice was undoubtedly male, but sounded much younger than her irritating new ghost. Naruto looked over to the sound, and felt the strange mixture of pity and jealousy coil up in her stomach.

 

Sasuke Uchiha looked so  _ small _ . Pale and haggard, dark rings under his eyes, oily bangs, and only half-again as large as the pillow he reclined against. A faded and broken boy, covered with tiny strips of fresh gauze and cheerful bandages that didn’t do anything to fix the deadened look in his eyes. And Naruto shouldn’t envy him because he had lost everything, but she still did, because he had an older brother that would sacrifice  _ anything  _ for him.

 

“ _ And doesn’t that just make my jealousy even more irrational?”  _ Naruto mused, “ _ Because I would be terrified to be, in any way, shape, or form, associated with Itachi Uchiha.” _

 

Shisui’s recounting of the Uchiha Massacre had accomplished his main intention. Naruto was, in fact, in possession of basic decency and empathy, and could acknowledge that Itachi’s sacrifice for the village was invaluable. She knew the underlying causes that drove Itachi’s action, and yes, she was unmeasurably grateful that the teen prevented a third shinobi war, but  _ still _ . To think that any shinobi could push down their own heart enough to massacre their entire family, from the most crotchety elder to the most innocent newborn, was  _ horrifying. _

 

Itachi Uchiha was a true hero, and like many heroes of the Leaf, his will of fire blazed so brightly that it consumed everyone around him.

 

“Are you just going to sit there?” Sasuke spoke again, listlessly watching the blonde.

 

“Er… no,” Naruto replied, scrambling up to her feet, “I have class in a few hours. My name’s Naruto Uzumaki.”

 

She got closer to the bed, stuck her hand out, and then withdrew it a few moments later. Sasuke didn’t move his gaze away from the floor, and Shisui merely slapped a palm against his forehead. Naruto resisted the urge to sigh. She had absolutely no idea what to do with a traumatized kid.

 

“What are you doing?” the boy spoke again, when Naruto climbed on top of the bed. She ignored the way he shied away from her, until his body was at the very end of the bed, and merely curled up on the sheets. It was an adult-sized hospital bed, and they were both small kids, so there was plenty of room for her to rest on.

 

“I’m tired. It’s five in the morning,” Naruto replied, matter-of-fact. Shisui drifted closer, and studied Sasuke intently, not that the smaller boy was aware of it. 

 

“Itachi used the Tsukuyomi on him,” Shisui announced, astonished. Naruto considered telling him that he needn’t whisper- no one else could hear him, after all- but decided it was more effort than she wanted to exert at this hour. Shisui’s eyes moved towards the wall, and then narrowed. “Offer to get rid of the clock,” he instructed.

 

“Do you want me to get rid of the clock?” Naruto parroted. Her face was turned towards Sasuke, so she could get a brief glimpse of the surprise and gratitude in his eyes.

 

“I can still hear him,” Sasuke said softly, “...Please destroy it.”

 

“ _ Itachi has a very messed-up way of showing his love,”  _ the blonde girl thought, as she took a kunai out of the weapon’s pouch tied to her thigh. Sasuke grasped it eagerly, and then threw it, viciously and with a better aim than Naruto on even her best days, through the delicate workings of the clock.

 

There was a loud crash, followed by the unmistakable tinkling of glass falling on the floor, as one of the ANBU Shunshined into the room. The masked shinobi, whose matte grey armor and short hair made it difficult to discern gender, looked directly at her. Despite the painted mask and black eye holes, Naruto was pretty sure the ANBU radiated disapproval.

 

“I’ll be on my way then,” Naruto laughed awkwardly, scrambling off her comfortable resting spot, “See you later, Sasuke! I’ll bring some real food over tomorrow!”

 

After watching the blonde girl practically toss her own body through the window, Sasuke reclined back against the pillow. This time, he closed his eyes and let himself drift, however briefly, back into sleep.

 

xxxxxx

Shisui couldn’t wait until they had reached the apartment to start speaking. 

 

“Well, that could have gone much worse,” the dark-haired boy exclaimed, sounding pleased, “We won’t have a good idea of his mental state until a few more visits have passed, but once it’s stable, we can tell him about the Uchiha Massacre. We should look into the village laws too, and see if there’s an established precedent for reintegrating missing-nin that have been cleared for their crimes. It’s unlikely for one to exist for capital crimes, but…”

 

Naruto listened to his chattering with a visible grimace, and quickened her pace. He kept up easily, of course, with the advantages of longer legs and natural grace, but losing him hadn’t been her aim. Pink powder-washed plaster walls came into view, and the blonde girl broke into a jog.

 

“Hey, what’s the hurry for?” Shisui asked curiously. 

 

“Wait,” Naruto muttered, out of the side of her mouth. The early morning chill and dull weather was unlikely to draw others out, but she still looked around warily for potential eavesdroppers. The girl drew out a copper key, and unlocked her apartment door, only relaxing once she was inside.

 

“You can’t talk to me in public,” were the first words out of her mouth. “Even if I’m the only person to hear you, there’s a risk that I’ll unintentionally react. The last thing I need is for people to think that I’m hearing voices in my head.”

 

The ghost boy nodded agreeably, taking a seat on her couch. Though it was more like he bent his body into a sitting form, and hovered imperceptibly over the couch’s surface. Naruto had never been able to figure out how the ghosts instinctively manipulated their bodies with respect to furniture.

 

“I can see why that might be a concern for you,” Shisui said, “Does anyone know about this talent of yours?”

 

She shook her head, and his eyes widened in astonishment. “ _ No one _ ? Not even the Hokage?”

 

“I kept it a secret from Ojiisan,” Naruto confessed, “I didn’t intend to. When I was younger, and before I knew about ghosts, I showed him, but…” 

 

“He thought it was an imaginary friend,” the Uchiha completed. “How long have you been able to see ghosts?”

 

“For as long as I can remember,” Naruto answered, heading to the kitchen. Shisui drifted after her, and settled down on the counter, while she took out a disposable cup ramen. Adding some water, she put it in the microwave, and set the timer. Then, she arched an eyebrow in his direction. “Not going to criticize my breakfast choice?”

 

“I’m not  _ that  _ big of a hypocrite,” Shisui replied, ruefully, “My Tou-san died in the Third Shinobi War, and my Kaa-san died a few years ago from Kyuubi-related health complications. There are times when an entire meal consisted of granola bars and old cereal. I  _ will _ recommend a glass of milk and maybe fruit too, though.”

 

“Not a sharing circle, Uchiha,” the blonde rebuked, half-heartedly picking her least rotten apple, and taking a bite, “I don’t want to get to know you.”

 

“Then what  _ do _ you want, Naruto?” Shisui peered at her intently. The blonde averted her face, not certain as to how she should respond to his genuine interest. She had never had someone look at her like that before, as though she was a fascinating puzzle that they would love nothing better than to solve. For that matter, other than a handful of people (and Inu-oji), Naruto had never had the experience of having someone look  _ at _ her, rather than through her. 

 

“I want to become a ninja,” Naruto spoke consideringly, the words beginning slowly, but then falling quickly, even hurriedly, from her lips, “I want to learn more about Inu-oji. And go outside of the village! I want to see the world, have adventures, and make friends. I want to learn about where I came from and who my parents were. I want… I want to know why the villagers look at me like that.”

 

“How do the villagers look at you?” the Uchiha prompted. 

 

The Uzumaki’s hand closed tightly around the apple, causing rivulets of juice to spill over her hand. “Like I’m not there,” she whispered, “Like there’s something  _ wrong  _ with me. I want to know why they pretend I’m not there, and why the other children aren’t allowed to play with me. I want…  _ is there something wrong with me _ ? Am I defective in some way? Is it obvious to everyone else  _ but me _ ?”

 

She wasn’t aware that tears were pooling in her eyes, until a cold, not watery hand clasped her chin. When it was tipped upwards, the world became blurry behind a thin film of salty water. Blinking rapidly, the tears started to fall down her cheeks. “ _ Is there something wrong with me? _ ”

 

“No.” Clipped, gentle, and entirely confident, Shisui’s response caused the tears to fall faster.

 

“Then why do they hate me?” Naruto asked, plaintively.

 

“Because the world is full people who are ignorant, fearful, or prejudiced, and often all three,” the dark-haired boy responded, “Because even those who know better don’t take action, thinking that the problem doesn’t affect them. We lived in the same village for years, but it wasn’t until I died, that I tried to get to know you, and even then for my own selfish reasons. I’m sorry, Naruto.”

 

They fell to a shared moment of quiet, that was soon broken by the mechanical beep of the microwave. Naruto drew away- now acutely aware of how the ghostly boy was standing  _ right in front of her _ \- and hurriedly took out her cup ramen. It was through years of experience that the huge mouthful she immediately swallowed did not choke her.

 

Shisui, feeling mildly sheepish over stealing the young girl’s personal space, returned to his counter top. He tried to hide his amazement as the relatively tiny blonde inhaled her pork ramen in less than three minutes, and chugged the broth down promptly thereafter. Not a single droplet spilled.

 

‘ _ Now _ that  _ is impressive,’  _ Shisui thought, marvelling at her speed, ‘ _ Man, if she was my partner at the Jounin Food Nights, I’d make Ishori Akimichi eat his stupid challenge.’ _

 

When Naruto finished her ramen, she tossed the plastic cup into the trash, and then fixed brilliantly blue eyes on the Uchiha. “You said that people hate me because they’re ignorant?”

 

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they hate you,” Shisui replied, carefully, “Many of them fear the power that you can potentially wield.”

 

Naruto looked panicked. “But I thought I hid it so well!” she said, wringing her hands, “Only Ojii-san knows about Inu-oji, and he thought that I had an imaginary friend!”

 

“I was referring to another power,” Shisui consoled, making a mental note of Naruto’s reaction. The blonde girl had seemed comfortable enough with his ghostly form, but she might still be harboring doubts if this was her reaction to the skill being public. 

 

Shisui balanced his hands just a whisper’s breadth above the countertop, and leaned forward. “What I am telling you now is an S-ranked village secret, punishable by death. This doesn’t bother me, for obvious reasons, but I cannot stress it strongly enough for you to  _ keep silent about this,  _ Naruto _.  _ The upper hierarchy would want to know where you got your information, and unless you’re willing to admit that it came from a deceased Uchiha, they’ll suspect the adults around you. To those adults’ misfortune, I’m sure.” 

 

Despite her apprehension, Naruto gave him a firm nod. Then, her whisker-cheeks curved downward as she frowned. “Wait, they’ll suspect _ every  _ adult around me? Do they all know this secret? Are the kids the only ones who  _ don’t _ know?”

 

“The S-rank ban covers your generation,” Shisui clarified, “Specifically, the batch of genin that graduated two years ago are the eldest ones to not be told. Unless they make Tokubetsu Jounin; then the information is issued after one year of service. All of the adults, civilian and ninja, know.” 

 

“Not much of a secret then,” Naruto scowled. Liquid fruit extract pooled around her fingers again, and the Uchiha boy eyed the apple pulp in her hands with no small degree of sympathy. Though he could understand where Naruto’s ire had come from. He wouldn’t have liked being the subject of a massive secret that the majority of the village, excluding him, knew.

 

“I think it was intended to keep the younger generation unprejudiced, so that you had a chance to make friends,” the Uchiha offered, “Of course, just because parents couldn’t explain  _ why  _ they disliked you, didn’t mean that they couldn’t warn their kids off from playing with the orphan girl. And when kids are told to avoid someone-”

 

“-they think that that person is bad somehow,” Naruto finished, shoulders slumping, “I know.”

 

“This secret may cause you to look at yourself differently,” Shisui added slowly, “But I want you to remember that you’ve always held it. Knowing the truth doesn’t change the life you’ve lived.”

  
Her stomach clenching in worry, Naruto attempted a smile. “Just spit it out, Uchiha.”

 

“Alright. Then, to understand this story, we must begin with the First Principle of Chaka. It can  neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it transfers from one medium to another.”

 

xxxxx

 

When the shade of Sakumo Hatake floated through the door of Apartment 5D, he found a screaming, pint-sized blonde throwing tableware at the wall. That this apartment belonged to the blonde in question was the main reason he didn’t immediately turn around and track down Naruto. Sakumo’s secondary reason was that Naruto’s limited finances led to plastic cups and bowls, so there was no shattered china on the floor. The kitchenette wall was receiving quite a beating though.

 

Catching the eye of the only other non-living person there, resulted in a sheepish half-shrug. “She’s been at this for a while,” Shisui Uchiha admitted, “I- er, told her about the Kyuubi?”

 

Sakumo nodded, and drifted closer to the furious girl. One ghostly hand brushed through her shoulder, and, even through her anger, Naruto automatically cringed away with goosebumps. 

 

“It’s not fair,” she hiccuped, blue eyes rapidly blinking tears out of her eyes, “I’m going to- I’m going to- Inu-oji!”

 

Naruto moved to tackle him into a hug, aborted it at the last second, and then sunk to her knees. She wrapped thin arms around her legs and hugged them to her body, muffling her voice through her knees. “It’s not fair… It’s not my fault! It was never my fault!”

 

“We know,” Shisui said gently, sinking to his knees before her. Cold, clammy hands gripped her shoulders, and then moved to draw her face out. “We know, Naruto. You weren’t given a choice, but you ended up sacrificing anyway. It’s not your fault. You’re a hero.”

 

When Naruto reluctantly looked up, she was faced with the bloody crimson of the Sharingan, and she gave a choked splutter of a laugh. “Like Itachi,” she said bitterly, still laughing, “I’m like  _ Itachi _ .”

 

The girl didn’t notice the guilty expression cross her companion’s face, but Sakumo did. “Yes,” Shisui agreed, carefully putting both arms around her, “You’re like Itachi.” 

 

Despite the noticeable drain of energy from keeping his arms mostly corporeal, the Uchiha refused to move away from his hug. It was only when his arms started to feel like they were burning, that Shisui drew back. For Naruto’s part, it felt like being entrapped in a cage of ice, so cold that it turned quickly from discomfort to pain, but she didn’t end it. It kept the her from drowning in hysteria again. 

 

Sakumo moved until he was standing next to the Uchiha, and then mouthed something. 

 

“He wants to know what you’re planning to do next,” Shisui translated, “Are you going to talk to the Hokage about this?”

 

Yellow strands of hair flew back and forth. “No! He’ll want to know how I figured it out, and I’m not telling him that. If Ojii-san wants to keep secrets from me, then I’ll keep secrets from him too!”

 

The mulish expression on the girl’s face dared him to challenge her, but since Naruto’s decision meshed well with his plans, Shisui didn’t argue. 

 

“You can’t research jinchuuriki without tipping him off,” he warned instead, “You need to come across the subject indirectly, through another form of study.”

 

Shisui’s brow raised at the other man’s suggestion. “Sakumo thinks you should research the Uzumaki Clan, and then start studying fuuinjutsu. Bijuu sealing is around the pinnacle of the art, so you may find some mention there.”

 

“The Uzumaki Clan?” Naruto bit her lip. “Is that where my father came from?”

 

“Maybe?” the dark-haired boy shrugged. “Learning about your parents was one of your goals, wasn’t it? We’ll look into it, and fuuinjutsu can help you with your shinobi studies. I might be able to help you there too.”

 

“I forgot you were a shinobi,” Naruto admitted quietly, “Were you a good one?”

 

“Well, these aren’t just for show, you know,” Shisui smirked, and tapped his eyes. “I became a genin at age 7, and I died as a member of ANBU. I think I have a few tricks worth showing.”

 

The Uchiha then nodded toward the older man. “Once we’ve trained you to read lips, you might be lucky enough to get a lesson or two from Konoha’s legendary White Fang.”

 

Sakumo’s face was expressionless when Naruto turned pleading blue eyes on him, but he seemed pleased enough when he nodded. At the Hatake’s agreement, a smile crossed her face, and Shisui ignored how piqued he felt that his promise of training hadn’t elicited such happiness.

 

“What about your goals?” Naruto asked plaintively.

 

Shisui waved it off. “It’s fine. You need someone in your corner-”

 

“No, it’s not!” That stubborn jut of her lip appeared again, and the Uchiha was amused to note that, after her reluctant smiles, this was the facial expression she used most around him. 

 

“You’re helping me, so I’ll be helping you too,” Naruto said fiercely, “Since I’m a jinchuuriki, who’ll be spending time with Sasuke, I’ll be getting Akatsuki and Root’s attention  _ anyway. _ Working to get Itachi cleared won’t add much more danger to that. If anything, I should do it just to screw with those bastards.”

 

A ghostly hand flew through her head a second later, and Naruto winced.

 

“Ow! Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to curse!”

 

xxxxx


	4. Chapter 4

By the Shodaime Hokage’s decree, no private or public establishment was allowed to refuse business to a member of the shinobi forces. One was judged to have been drafted by the military at the moment of their acceptance into a certified training facility. The most prestigious of which was the Konoha Academy 4A, standing beside the Hokage’s Tower. When Naruto entered the 4A Academy three years ago, she lost her civilian classification, and fell under the Shodaime’s law. Not that this had been a problem for her previously; Naruto was always offered goods at a fair price, but the shopkeepers cold indifference kept her from lingering in any of their businesses.

One of the establishments that Naruto chose to avoid as a child was the Konoha Library. The one and only time she had visited, the blonde had been seven, and the scarred woman manning the front desk kept her eyes fastened on her throughout the entire visit. Both of her pale blue eyes were covered by a milky film, and the burnt tissue around them indicated that she didn’t have a Byakugan. Naruto had been so freaked out by the blind woman’s attention, that she left before checking out a single book.

 

Now that she knew the truth about her jinchuuriki status, Naruto figured that the woman had been a kunoichi injured in the Kyuubi attack. That would explain why she was so antagonistic towards her, but didn’t make the blonde any more willing to visit again. Unfortunately, both of her ghostly friends were adamant about going to the library, so the library was where Naruto would go.

 

She had woken up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning  _ again _ \- because Shisui Uchiha was a walking blizzard with no respect for her personal space- and visited Sasuke’s hospital room. The injured boy appeared bemused when the blonde girl catapulted back-forward onto his floor, cradling two containers of food in her arms. Naruto curled up into a nap on the Uchiha’s bed, as he quietly ate the chicken ramen and tomato-stuffed onigiri, and then kindly woke her up before school.

 

They had completed this without any significant attempts to converse with each other, which was something that Naruto appreciated. She may pity Sasuke, and the position he was in, but the blonde wasn’t a Yamanaka Elder. She didn’t know how to handle such obvious mental trauma.

 

Afterward, Naruto left to the Academy, though she may as well have skipped for the day. Rather than listen to her sensei, the girl quietly sat in her usual seat, while Shisui covered the material with her. The older boy was very good with mathematics, but usually became impatient with her reading speed, and simply read the passages aloud to her. Without her slow reading to hinder her, Naruto managed to keep pace with the other students, and, by the time the lunch bell rang, mostly understood the lesson.

 

Toshio-sensei, bolstered by her successful answer yesterday, threw two more questions towards her, both of which Shisui answered. Naruto would have felt more guilty at being credited for her friend’s knowledge, if Toshio-sensei hadn’t smiled at her after the last question. The unanticipated pleasure of an adult’s approval was simply too sweet to let go of easily.

 

“The first thing we need to work on is your reading,” Shisui grumbled, floating after her, as she entered the courtyard, “It’s no wonder that you’re doing so poorly in school, if your most fundamental skill is so weak.”

 

Unable to argue back in public, which the Uchiha probably counted on when he began his tirade, Naruto scanned the courtyard for a private location. She decided that the clump of trees at the edge of the grounds, besides the janitor’s building, would be the best one, and headed there. Once she had settled down, the blonde flipped open her notebook and scrawled a message on it. Then she pointed it in her impromptu tutor’s direction.

 

“Oh, that’s very mature, Naruto,” Shisui said, rolling his eyes. In her untidy scrawl was written a bold ‘Teme’ on the page. “Use less space, and try not to waste your school supplies.” 

 

Naruto added ‘Bossy’ on top of her previous message, and then added a question below.

 

“He didn’t tell me,” Shisui answered, “Though if I had to guess, I’d say that Sakumo is watching Kakashi watch the Memorial Stone.”

 

The blonde furrowed her brow, and tried to think of why Inu-oji would be haunting someone else. Shisui had mentioned a living relative before, hadn’t he? That must have been Kakashi. To gain confirmation, she added that question below her previous.

 

“Yes, Kakashi Hatake is Sakumo’s only son,” the Uchiha answered, sitting across from her, “Put that notebook away. We’re going to have another lesson now.”

 

Despite her apprehension, Naruto followed the order and faced Shisui directly.

 

“You can eat now,” the boy mouthed soundlessly, making the young girl blink in confusion. Shisui patiently repeated the phrase a second time, and then a third, before Naruto understood. They were practicing lipreading, and she could do that while intaking her delicious ramen.

 

“Hashirama… Senju… was… the… Shodaime… Hokage,” Shisui said carefully, “Tap… the… bowl… once, if you understand.”

 

It took several repetitions until Naruto tapped her bowl, and then they moved to tugging her hair, swirling her ramen, licking her chopsticks, and blinking thrice in succession. They were working on wrinkling her nose, when the blonde realized that she was enjoying herself. There was a companionable aura associated with having a conversation with a friend, even if it was entirely one-sided, and Naruto was sure that Shisui was thinking up successively more embarrassing actions for her to do.

 

When Naruto was done with her meal, Shisui decided that the lesson was over.

 

“You’re doing much better, Naruto,” he praised, making the girl light up at the compliment. The Uchiha’s reaction to this was to add self-confidence to the list of traits he would have to train her in. “Now, since lunch isn’t over, why don’t you go play with your friends?”

 

Immediately after the words left his mouth, the ghost boy realized that he had said the wrong thing. Naruto’s face went bright red in embarrassment, even as her bottom lip jutted out and her sky blue eyes hardened in defiance.

 

“It should be obvious to you that I don’t  _ have _ any friends, Uchiha,” Naruto replied flatly, “You even know the reason why, so you shouldn’t be asking stupid questions like that.”

 

“A-ah, after spending the last three days together, I thought  _ we _ had something special between us,” Shisui dramatically placed his hand on his chest, and sent a wounded look towards the girl. “Aren’t we friends, Naruto-chan?”

 

“No, we’re not friends,” the reluctant smile was back, and Shisui counted that as a success. “You’re the weird ghost that keeps stalking me.”

 

As a side thought, she added, “And don’t call me Naruto-chan!”

 

With the tension thus averted, Shisui decided to press on. “Other than Sakumo and I, and presumably the Sandaime, do you have any friends?”

 

She shook her head, and gained no comfort from the Uchiha’s sudden grin. “Well, no time like the present, I say!” he cheered, standing up, “Let us go and find a friend, Naruto _ -chan _ .”

 

“Friends aren’t some kind of scavenger hunt prize for us to find,” the blonde complained, “All of my classmates have been warned off from me. It’ll be easier to keep my secret without being surrounded by nosy kids. I don’t even need a friend. I have Inu-oji, don’t I? And don’t call me Naruto-chan!”

 

“We’ll look for kids who aren’t in your class then,” Shisui countered, “They may make it more difficult for you to keep your secret, but not by that much. Adversity is the good for the soul. And you can never have too many friends… Naruto-chan.”

 

Naruto glared at the pleased ghost, Shisui began to sing-song her name, and before she knew exactly what had happened, the blonde had followed the Uchiha boy towards the Academy building. Her feet rooted itself to the ground when she saw the other kids sitting or playing beside the walls. One of the boys- with dark brown hair and red triangles on his cheeks- caught her eye, and jogged up.

 

“Hey!” He said exuberantly, a confident grin crossing his face, “Do you wanna play?”

 

The Uzumaki girl stared back, utterly stupefied by this immediate invitation, and unsure as to her reply. Her staring extended by several heartbeats, and the boy’s welcoming grin began to falter, when an ice-cold arm rammed itself through her arm.

 

“Say ‘yes’!” Shisui said hurriedly to the motionless blonde, “He’s an Inuzuka.”

 

“Y-yes,” Naruto’s mouth began working again, and she struggled not to grab the biting chill on her arm, “I would! Th-thank you, Inuzuka-san.”

 

“Call me Kiba! Inuzuka-san’s only for my mom,” the boy insisted, grabbing her arm and tugging her forward. She had to keep herself from wrenching the limb away-  _ personal space, dammit!-  _ as the girl allowed her body to be dragged forward. “Guys, I found another player!”

 

“We already have even teams though,” another boy protested, with short purple hair and glasses. “We don’t need a  _ girl _ to play.” Naruto privately decided to refer to him as ‘Idiot’ in her head. 

 

“Nah, this is great,” the lazy drawl was accompanied by Shisui’s whisper of ‘ _ Nara’ _ , “Now, I can sit out and watch the clouds. Let the girl take my spot.” The blonde chose ‘Pineapple’ for his hairstyle.

 

“Aw, but that means we’ll be on different teams,” Kiba whined, good-naturedly. His grin widened even more, and Naruto quietly noted the sharp fangs. “Sorry, new girl, but I’m afraid that you’re going to lose today.”

 

“I don’t want to play with a girl,” another boy complained, and since ‘Idiot’ was taken, she chose ‘Moron’. “Why did you have to bring her here, Kiba? You don’t have a  _ crush  _ on her, do you?”

 

“I don’t have a crush! Gross!” Kiba made a gagging noise, and Naruto felt vaguely amused by his reaction. “Look, Shikamaru keeps falling asleep when it’s his turn to guard, and even the new girl has to be better than that. Why not let her play?”

 

“Does the girl even know the rules of Shinobi and Samurai?” Idiot made his contribution again.

 

“I can teach her.” And this boy’s spiky hair, round cheeks, and squinted eyes, had Naruto don him ‘Hedgehog’. “We should let the new girl play.”

 

Naruto stood there, baffled, as the group of boys discussed her inclusion to the game. They didn’t make any move towards soliciting her own opinion, despite the fact that she was  _ standing right there _ , and the girl wanted to kick at least Idiot and Moron for that. Finally, they reached the consensus to- as far as Naruto could tell- give her a trial run, and Idiot turned to give her the magnanimous news.

 

“You can play for one round, new girl,” Idiot sniffed, looking rather like that white-eyed fellow that attended Council meetings with Ojii-san, “Then, if you’re any good, we _ might _ let you hang with us.”

 

Naruto cocked her head to the side, just like Inu-oji did when he was considering something, and then shook her head. 

 

“No,” she replied, swiftly, “My name’s Naruto Uzumaki- not _new_ _girl_ \- and I don’t think I want to play with someone like you. Thank you for the offer though, Kiba-san.” Naruto turned around, head held high, and made to walk back to her secluded spot. She knew that this entire business of making friends had been a bad idea. 

 

Naruto hadn’t gotten more than a few steps away, when _ another  _ hand reached out to grab her arm, and this time, the blonde did jerk her body away. Pineapple had the forethought to not be present when her clumsy punch hit the air that his chest had previously occupied. Once she had regained her balance, Naruto found herself looking into chocolate brown eyes that glinted with  _ something _ .

 

“ _ Oh, great, _ ” Shisui moaned, hiding his face in his hands, “ _ We caught the interest of a Nara _ .”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Naruto,” the Nara said evenly, “Ignore Daichi and Isao. We’re glad to have a player, who’s willing to run around for no reason whatsoever. I’m sure you’ll make a fine Samurai.”

 

“Thanks, Pineapple-san,” Naruto blinked, “Er… what is a Samurai supposed to do?”

 

xxxxxx

 

Recess was already half-over, so Naruto only participated in one round of Shinobi and Samurai. The rules were a cross between Freeze Tag, Hide’n’Seek, and Keep Away, with the winner being whoever transported the _ other _ team’s rock to the end zone. There were no rules maintaining that the guard had to stay grounded, so Naruto took the first opportunity available to scale a tree and refused to come down. Since her lighter weight and previous experience let her jump between the branches faster than any of the boys, the Samurai Team’s rock was nearly impossible to steal. She leapt, swung, tumbled, and ducked under all attempts to grab her, and, at one point, even clung upside down on a thick branch, with the rock resting on her stomach. 

 

The Shinobi Team’s misery was finally put to an end, when a sympathetic Hedgehog took their rock and threw it over the Academy’s gate. Once Naruto knew that her team had won, she climbed down from her perch, and presented the rock to a group of stunned boys. By the end, even Moron and Idiot were gaping at her with a mix of frustration and awe.

 

“That was fun, Kiba! Please invite me, next time,” Naruto chirped, still grinning from the adrenaline.

 

“Er, yeah,” the dazed Inuzuka nodded, “We’ll- er, we’ll do that, Naruto.” 

 

Naruto went back to her class, while feeling inordinately pleased with herself for playing a simple schoolyard game with kids her own age. That contented feeling stayed with her, as Shisui reviewed the geography of Fire Country, and went on a historical tangent about why the borders had been drawn that way. When classes were done for the day, Naruto followed the older boy to the Konoha Library, and still had enough buoyancy from recess to not shrink under the librarian’s cold gaze.

 

“Come on! Sakumo found us a table.” Shisui’s eyes were lit with a bookworm’s glee at the shelves of books and scrolls available for the public. Naruto wasn’t nearly as excited about reading at the ghostly boy seemed to be, but even the blonde could appreciate that this was one of Fire Country’s largest repositories of public knowledge.

 

“It’s not even a quarter of the size of the Imperial Library,” Shisui informed her, “But the Capitol’s one focuses on civilian subjects, especially history, philosophy, and law, while this one has the biggest selection on jutsu theory. I heard that the Fire Temple has ancient scrolls on the fundamental aspects of chakra that even the villages don’t have though.”

 

The library was mostly empty at this time of the day, and the Uchiha had brought her to a secluded side room amongst the News Archives, so Naruto felt safe enough to direct a questioning glance.

 

“If my team had some free time during a mission, we would all split up and explore the area we were in,” Shisui explained, and though Naruto couldn’t pinpoint the reason, she saw the sadness reflecting from bloody crimson eyes, “My favorite destinations were the libraries and-  _ we keep this strictly to ourselves, Uzumaki _ \- the kitten cafes.” 

 

There was absolutely nothing obstructing her path, but Naruto nearly tripped over herself at that confession. Then, public or not, she turned and gaped at the easygoing shinobi.

 

“Cuddling with a baby kitten is a much better coping mechanism for missions gone wrong than running in green spandex or reading porn in public,” Shisui swore, “And yes, Naruto, there are ninja who’ve done that. One day, I’ll take you to a cafe in Osaka, and you’ll see what I mean.”

 

“Right,” Naruto murmured, softly, under her breath, as they arrived at the table. She mouthed a ‘Hello’ to him, and grinned when he soundlessly returned the greeting. 

 

Then the two shinobi rapidly conferred, in speeds that prevented Naruto from understanding Sakumo’s part, before Shisui brought her to the library stacks. They were limited to only sealing theory and basic applications, due to Naruto's Academy Student status, but with Sakumo’s knowledge of fuuinjutsu, the theory could go far. Naruto picked up several of those texts, then plenty of books on the Second Shinobi War and its aftermath, and a few scrolls on chakra control. Shisui also directed her to a few books on Konoha Law, and, for some reason, natural philosophy from the monks. 

 

When Naruto returned to the table, she was staggering under the weight of the books in her arms, and ended up dumping the pile on the wooden surface. Sakumo and Shisui selected their texts, and Naruto was ordered to focus on the scroll that had tree-walking labelled on its side. The three settled down in a row, with Naruto at the center, and began to read. The blonde got a cold poke every few minutes from either side, as the pages needed to be turned, and the constant distraction made reading her own scroll annoying. 

 

The Uzumaki decided to push her scroll away, and read over Inu-oji’s shoulder instead. His subject was about acyclic graph theory applications on heritage seals though, which was a topic far above her current knowledge. Rather than give up, Naruto decided to search her pile for a book explaining acyclic graphs, which led to a tangent on the properties of even and odd-degree vertices, and so on. Within half an hour, over a dozen books were open, and Naruto was flitting around the table as she reverse-engineered her way through Inu-oji’s readings. This made it simpler for her to turn the pages for the other two, and the constant movement helped focus her scattershot attention.

 

When her stomach began growling, and Shisui declared their research effort to be completed for the day, Naruto had made some- very eclectic- progress. The blonde knew a little about heritage seals, a lot about semantic networks, something about blood locks, and a tiny bit about the Rhesus antigen. She still had no idea what tree-walking was though.

 

xxxxx


	5. Chapter 5

For the next week, Naruto would make morning visits to Sasuke, get tutored by Shisui during class, and go to the library after school to get some research done. The blonde would often stay there until dinner, which would spent at Ichiraku Ramen. Post-dinner activities included finishing her homework, reading and writing practice, and reviewing the topics that her class had covered at the beginning of term. She could now claim, much to her dismay, that Shisui was an absolutely brutal teacher, with perfectionist tendencies. After the third day, Naruto pointedly refused to re-rewrite her essay, because  _ it was fine just the way it was, Uchiha.  _

 

One thing that Naruto couldn’t claim though was that the older boy’s frustrating methods were ineffective. She had progressed to answering a few questions of her own in class, and her hiragana finally looked like they weren’t written by a nearsighted toddler holding a fist-sized crayon. Her lipreading skills had improved dramatically, and Shisui was now adding a series of hand symbols to her lunch lessons. It wouldn’t be until a few years down the line that Naruto learned that they were the standard international shinobi code, complete with multiple vulgar hand signs.

 

Because Shisui may have been a genius and an ANBU, but he was also a teenage boy.

 

Even the Uchiha’s attempts to make her social- or, at least, prevent her from becoming a hermit- were bearing fruit. Naruto had joined the boys from a class below her for Shinobi and Samurai five times now, after agreeing to scale down from the trees. Not that the blonde was much easier to catch on land, since she could easily slip out of her loose orange jacket and hide amongst the foliage. Pineapple- and she really should start using his real name- hadn’t spoken to her again yet, but Shisui was adamant that he would stay away from her when the Nara was around. He seemed to have an acute phobia of the notoriously lazy, shadow-commanding clan. 

 

Naruto was grateful for all of the ghostly boy’s help, especially because Shisui Uchiha was the first person to prepare her for the future. Inu-oji tried his best, but there was remarkably little that one could instruct without some manner of reliable communication between them. Ojii-san wanted to protect her from the truth, Teuchi and Ayame were civilians, and most other adults preferred to ignore her existence. There was that one silver-haired ANBU- and Naruto felt silly now, for not linking him to Inu-oji- who would leave fruit baskets on her window, but she didn’t know anything about him. So Naruto was grateful for that Shisui was willing to share his experience with her.

 

There were a few things that Shisui Uchiha hadn’t experienced though, and one of them was kunoichi lessons.

 

“I can’t believe you have to take lessons in hanakotoba,” the Uchiha said with disgust, skimming over the class syllabus placed on her desk, “I can understand court etiquette, cooking, and even dancing lessons, but why are they teaching you how to put on  _ makeup _ ? Non-chakra infiltration and seduction are Chuunin-only specializations, and even the waterproof stuff starts dripping off when you train.” 

 

As an afterthought, he added. “And you’re too young to wear makeup.”

 

Naruto personally disagreed on the age issue, but then, she hadn’t liked endangering her eyes with a mascara stick anyway. Discretion was the better part of valour, so the blonde resumed arranging her bright bouquet. She had chosen eye-catching flowers in full boom, and was pleased with the riot of colors and scents in front of her. To gain her friend’s attention, the blonde slid the syllabus closer to her vase, and leaned back to let Shisui observe the arrangement.

 

“They look very pretty, Naruto,” the dark-haired boy complimented. Naruto beamed.

 

“Naruto, orange lilies symbolize hatred and revenge,” a platinum-blonde haired girl from the Yamanaka Clan that had sat next to her, said, “And primroses mean desperation.” 

 

Naruto wilted. The vivid orange and yellow lilies had really appealed to her. “So the message is that I’m desperate to gain revenge?” she asked. Maybe she should send the flowers to Sasuke?

 

“It’s not all bad,” the Yamanaka assured, “Yellow and red camellias mean longing and deep love respectively. It could be a warning to someone who tragically stole your lover from you.”

 

Well, she wasn’t going to send  _ that _ message to Sasuke. 

 

“I have to start over then,” Naruto groaned, because most of her bouquet was filled with those specific flowers, “Can you help me, Yamanaka-san?”

 

“No problem!” the girl chirped, “But you should call me Ino. We have shared this table for the last year, haven’t we?”

 

The blonde nodded. Kunoichi lessons were mixed-grade, so she had been assigned a seat with the Yamanaka, even if they didn’t share a regular sensei. They were the last two names in the alphabet.

 

“Thank you, Ino,” Naruto replied. The Uzumaki quickly emptied her vase, as Ino began to chatter into her ear. Their conversation was mostly one-sided, but the helpful Yamanaka was a font of information, and didn’t mind sharing her knowledge. Naruto needed to gently steer her away from some of the more passionate meanings, electing instead for a friend-based bouquet emphasizing sorrow and remembrance, but otherwise, Ino was great help. 

 

“Ino, do you know why we have hanakotoba lessons?” Naruto asked.

 

Pale teal eyes narrowed in consideration. “I’d have to say it’s because they’re a discrete way to exchange information,” she finally answered, “They also introduce common herbs into the curriculum, and a student could use that as a springboard for further study in poisons or medicine.”

 

“I didn’t consider that before,” Shisui interjected, “Not a lot of shinobi join the medics or poison specialists, but the latter is really important for assassination. Why don’t the male students get these lessons?” Naruto repeated the question.

 

Ino shrugged. “I asked my Dad once, and he thinks it’s because most civilian-born students are male, and they might drop out if they have to attend ‘girly’ lessons.”

 

“And when we’re here, they’ll get additional instruction in taijutsu,” Naruto noted, “Because they’re less likely to practice their forms outside of school?”

 

“Probably, but who cares?” Ino picked up a wilting tulip and waved it in front of the other girl’s nose with a mischievous grin, “So, one-sided love affair, Naruto-chan?”

 

As one girl burst into peals of laughter, and the other frantically denied any such entanglements, Shisui Uchiha reviewed the syllabus with a more critical eye. Many of the lessons  _ were _ useful, non-combat skills that he’d had to pick up on the field, and even the ones that the boy had previously dismissed,  _ could _ hold merit. He hadn’t attended these lessons during his Academy tenure, but Shisui hated missing potential opportunities to learn. He would pay attention to these bi-weekly kunoichi classes, and then, he would convince Naruto to teach them to Sasuke.

 

Those dancing lessons certainly sounded promising… 

 

xxxxx

 

Minoru Yamanaka, Matriarch of the Yamanaka Clan and proprietor of Konoha’s Blooming Stalk Flower Shop, struggled to keep a friendly smile on her face as her daughter led a certain blonde girl into their home. Ino had requested permission to bring a friend over after school, and, as Minoru had already vetted her baby’s classmates, she had agreed. The brunette woman hadn’t bothered to ask for Ino’s friend’s name- because her social butterfly daughter had too many to keep track of- and was kicking herself for the oversight now.

 

Though how could she have guessed that Ino-chan’s new friend was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki?

 

“Hello,” Minoru greeted, with a strained smile, as the child stepped over their threshold. The woman’s mind flitted towards the old wive’s tale of bloodsucking demons, and she tried not to shudder. “I’m Ino’s mother, Minoru. Welcome to our home.”

 

“Naruto Uzumaki,” was the soft response, as the blonde girl gave a polite bow. “Thank you for inviting me to your home, Yamanaka-san.” 

 

She was a well-mannered child, but there was something in her posture that Minoru thought could be defiance. Then, her sapphire blue eyes met Minoru’s lighter ones, and the older woman realized that the child hadn’t been defiant, but defensive. She thought that Minoru would refuse to let her associate with Ino.

 

A part of the brunette woman still wanted to follow that route, but, almost in spite of herself, Minoru felt her stiff heart ease. The jinchuuriki was a child, and she knew that intellectually, but, from afar, it hadn’t been easy to discern. She was small. And skinny. And Ino was standing impatiently beside her, probably wondering why her mother was staring at the other girl so oddly.

 

“No problem,” Minoru managed to say, “Ino said that you two planned to study for a class?”

 

The Uzumaki girl nodded, a silent gratefulness appearing in her eyes. “I’m not very good at hanakotoba.”

 

“That’s an understatement,” Ino interjected, with a teasing grin, “If you read her bouquets, than Naruto is having an unrequited love affair or a broken love affair or a jealousy-spurned passionate love affair-”

 

“Ino!” the jinchuuriki squawked, and her little girl burst into giggles. She had no idea what manner of being that she had just mocked. 

 

Minoru wondered when her home’s foyer had gotten so cold, because she could swear that she felt a creeping chill rise up her back. “Well, Ino has a lot of experience there,” she replied, “She helps me around the flower shop, you see.”

 

“I’ll need all of the help I can get,” Naruto said, a blush creeping up her cheeks. It was endearing, and once again, the image of a naive child overlay Minoru’s memories of the raging nine-tailed demon fox.

 

“You two should get to it then,” Minoru said, turning her face away and trying to hide the tremors in her hands. It wasn’t easy to disregard the traumas of that night. “I’ll bring up some snacks.”

 

“Great!” Ino chirped, grabbing her new friend and almost dragging her up to her room. “Thanks Mom!”

 

The jinchuuriki looked back at her, and when Minoru met her eyes, she saw smooth tan skin and burning red chakra, bright yellow hair and gleaming white fangs. Then the girl slipped beyond her sight, and Minoru realized that she hadn’t breathed in the last minute.

 

_ ‘She’s a child, _ ’ the Yamanaka Matriarch reminded herself, blinking wet eyelashes rapidly, ‘ _ A child, she’s a child, Minoru. She won’t hurt Ino. She’s a  _ child _.’ _

 

xxxxx

 

Naruto finished tracing the Uzumaki clan symbol- a red spiral inset in a circle with four directional points- on a piece of paper held over the heavy genealogy book. There had been plenty of interesting symbols in the book, but her main interest was in the one with ‘Uzumaki’ embossed in glossy lettering above it. In had been next to a black-and-white picture of the Uzushiogakure ruins, in the section for old, powerful, and extinct shinobi clans.

 

As soon as Naruto was capable of it, she would remove that final label from her clan’s profile. She wouldn’t get very far on an empty stomach though, so, as soon as the insignia had been copied, the blonde put the old text away. She scribbled down a note for Inu-oji, and put it on top of the microwave, which was discrete enough that visitors would stumble across the oddity and wonder why she was leaving reminders for herself. Then she visited a shrine to Kami’s greatest gift to man.

 

“Hello, Ayame-neechan!” Naruto chirped, ducking her head under the shop’s roof flaps. The mouthwateringly tantalizing smell of ramen surround her, and made the Academy student’s stomach rumble again. “I’m here for lunch!”

 

“I’ll take out the extra large bowls then,” Ayame replied, tucking a strand of pretty brown hair behind her ear, “Dad! Start another pot; Naruto’s here!”

 

“Ah, my favorite customer,” Teuchi called out, stepping out of the back kitchen, “It’s good to see you, Naruto. You haven’t stopped by here for awhile. We were beginning to get worried.”

 

The Uzumaki tucked her chin down, feeling touched by the display of concern. “I’ve been busy with my classes lately,” she answered, awkwardly, “I usually pick up some fruit and eat lunch outside of the library.”

 

Ayame’s eyebrows rose. “How much time are you spending at the library, Naruto?”

 

She shrugged. “Eh, two or three hours everyday? It’s a little boring sometimes, but I’ve learnt a lot of cool stuff. Did you know that the moon doesn’t have any light of its own? We can only see it because it reflects sunlight, and, depending on how it faces the sun, we can see more or less of it. There was something about tides too, but I didn’t understand that.”

 

“That’s very interesting, Naruto,” the brunette girl commented, smiling widely, “I’m glad that you’re starting to take your studies seriously. I’m sure that you’ll pass the next shinobi exam easily.”

 

Naruto nodded eagerly. “That’s the plan!” 

 

“In celebration of your newfound academic prowess, why don’t we make the first bowl on the house,” Teuchi suggested, ladeling her customary pork broth with extra menma, “Eat it up, Naruto.”

 

“Really? Thanks!” the blonde girl excitedly broke apart her chopsticks, and drew her extra-large bowl closer, “Itadakimasu!”

 

She was about to bring her chopsticks closer to her mouth, when Naruto suddenly paused, and briefly looked around. Left. Right. Back. Okay, so she was clear from Ino-chan’s harping about calories and diets. Her unhealthy meal could be consumed in all of its impatient, messy, and slurping glory then.

 

Ino’s ideas about ladylike eating habits and impressing boys were also disregarded. Admittedly only one boy saw those lack of manners, but Shisui seemed to find her eating habits fascinating.

 

Five bowls later, Naruto was paying out the requisite money, and adding a generous tip that mostly covered the cost of the original bowl. While she enjoyed the discounts that the Ichiraku family would periodically offer her, the blonde girl knew that they were running a tight business. And besides, she had plenty of money saved up from Ojii-san’s generous ryo-based birthday gifts.

 

Once her lunch was done, Naruto headed towards the Academy training fields that Shisui asked her to meet him in. They were rarely used under the midday heat, so they could fit some private practice in. The younger girl was almost giddy with anticipation over all of the cool taijutsu moves that an ex-ANBU could teach her.

 

“...You want me to learn how to throw a punch?” Naruto repeated the words, in case she hadn’t heard them correctly before.

 

“We’re covering the basics, Naruto,” the Uchiha replied dryly, “What did you  _ think _ I was going to teach you?”

 

The blonde girl crossed her arms. “Don’t you have a powerful Uchiha-clan taijutsu style that’s feared all over the world?”

 

“No! Why does _everyone_ think that?” Shisui rolled his eyes, frustrated. “There’s no such thing as a specific Uchiha clan taijutsu style. Most of my clanmates were honestly terrible at it.”

 

“But can’t you use your Sharingan to guess your opponent's moves?” A hint of a whine had entered the girl’s voice.

 

“First, do you know how fast an average Jounin-level taijutsu match is?” Shisui asked rhetorically, “Way too damn fast for a Sharingan user to observe his movements, develop a reaction plan, and act on it. We rely on instinct and muscle memory to do that, just like every other ninja out there. Second, why would a clan that specializes in ninjutsu and genjutsu- which our eyes  _ do _ help with- develop a taijutsu style, especially when we mock the Hyuuga for focusing so much on their Jyuken? And third, even if we did have that, you don’t _ have _ a Sharingan. It will be useless for you.”

 

Naruto looked away, with a pout forming on her face. “What about your personal taijutsu style?”

 

Shisui shook his head, an expression of fond exasperation crossing his face. “Now I know what Itachi had to go through,” he mumbled quietly.

 

“My taijutsu style needs a certain level of speed that you just don’t have right now, Naruto,” the Uchiha explained, “I could work on your speed with you, but putting too much stress on your body will hamper your growth later. It also requires a longer reach and basic handling of a tanto, which you also don’t have.”

 

Naruto stayed quiet, as she absorbed his words. “So… learning how to throw a punch then?”

 

“And then later, dodge training!” Shisui responded cheerfully, “As a ghost, I’m incapable of causing you physical harm. But you  _ can _ feel an uncomfortable coldness when I hit you. That will come in useful in our taijutsu lessons.”

 

xxxxx

 

Sakumo Hatake easily slipped into a state of analytical serenity as he observed the two children- one a lighthearted, ghostly shinobi and the other a snarky, living jinchuuriki- squabble. The former was helping the latter with her homework, which was always a good source of amusement. They were arguing now, about the correct amount of details to add to an essay before the assignment became overdone, and Naruto appeared to be a heartbeat away from tossing her textbook through the Uchiha. Then Shisui resorted to teasing her, the tension broke, and the little girl that Sakumo had come to love as his own, began to laugh.

 

Finally, Shisui admitted that a cross-analysis of the First and Second Shinobi Wars was unnecessary, while Naruto acceded to citing her tactics book.

 

Sakumo had been surprised by how good the Uchiha was at handling the prickly blonde, but not as much as when Naruto accepted the boy’s friendship and advice. The circumstances of the girl’s life had made her self-defensive, resorting to hiding her loneliness under a cloak of forced nonchalance and scorn. There was very little that the silver-haired man could have done to help her, either with her emotional frustrations or minimal shinobi skills. 

 

Language had been the main barrier to his lessons, though he had been slightly more effective once Naruto learned practical skills like taijutsu. The Hatake had been relegated mostly to silently encouraging the blonde, which honestly wasn’t enough for the child. The Uchiha, who could  _ speak _ to her, and give her the type of companionship and acceptance that only a peer could offer, was one of the best things to happen to her.

 

_ ‘And to me,’  _ Sakumo admitted. One of the first objectives they had agreed on, in the haphazard plan-as-you-go method that both children seemed to prefer, was to teach Naruto lipreading. Being able to exchange a few sentences with the young girl had been a balm to his soul, in a way that the silver-haired man didn’t even know he needed. It injected a whole new energy to Sakumo’s afterlife.

 

This also brought him to questioning his role in their little team. Previously, before Shisui barged into their life, Sakumo had been toying with the idea of having Naruto communicate on his behalf with Kakashi. She wouldn’t be able to pass on complex sentences, but if she could convey how proud Sakumo was of his son, then Kakashi’s inner demons might be soothed enough to do more than leave fruit baskets on the Uzumaki’s windowsill.   

 

This was a reckless plan for a number of reasons. For one, Kakashi may refuse to believe the blonde entirely, and cast doubt on her mental health. If he did believe her, then his son might react negatively, and plunge even further into the depression that he fell into after Minato-kun’s death. Or Kakashi might forgive him for his suicide, thus fulfilling Sakumo’s dying wish and causing his ghost to pass into the afterlife. That didn’t leave any guarantees that he would take care of Naruto in Sakumo’s absence, so the blonde would be stripped of her closest form of emotional support.

 

_ ‘And I wouldn’t be able to watch Naruto grow up,’  _ Sakumo added, considering the selfishness of his motivation, ‘ _ Or see Kakashi become a shinobi worthy of admiration and respect, even if he did pick up on that embarrassing porn habit. _ ’

 

He had been hesitant to use that plan, but if Naruto couldn’t pass her second shinobi exam, Sakumo would have done so. That was when Shisui Uchiha had entered their life, and promptly took over the roles of Naruto’s live-in tutor and unintentional best friend. The dark-haired boy had brought along a few issues of his own, in the form of Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, and his barely-hidden hero worship of Sakumo made the older man rather uncomfortable, but overall, he was a net benefit for them.

 

Shisui was a good kid, and a talented shinobi, but there were a few things that age and experience hadn’t battered into him yet. His aversion to meticulous planning would have been lost in the first decade of his career, but that was fine. Sakumo could plan well-enough for all of them.

 

The biggest problem for them was obviously the Akatsuki, which was led by that mysterious maybe-Madara that let the Kyuubi loose into Konoha. Fortunately, they had a few years before the shadowy group’s plan could be put into action, which could be dedicated to making Naruto a competent shinobi. This meant that she had to graduate as quickly as possible to gain the necessary experience, skills, and allies to oppose a group of S-rank missing-nin. The next graduation cycle was this fall, for which she would not be anywhere near prepared, but the spring test might scraper a pass.

 

Naruto did not have a penchant for book-learning, but Sakumo felt that the blonde would make great strides with some real-world exposure.

 

Her specializations would have to be combat and evasion, by sheer necessity. The Uzumaki’s chakra pools leant well towards ninjutsu, but Sakumo would have to insist on starting the intermediate chakra control exercises soon. The beginner exercises would be useless for Naruto, and gaining a better grasp on her chakra at a young age, when it was more malleable, would be beneficial. The blonde girl clearly came from shinobi stock, since her stamina, strength, and thick muscle fibers all lay at the higher-end scale of her age group. Taijutsu was important, but genjutsu and iryo ninjutsu were far out of her capabilities for now. 

 

And after learning a little about the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto was eager to master fuuinjutsu, which Sakumo could support. She was a stable and loyal jinchuuriki, so, knowing how to monitor or adapt her seal was only a commonsense safety precaution.

 

In addition to securing Naruto’s survival, they needed to do some research on her heritage and change, or at least negate, the negative impressions of the villagers. The latter would occur slowly, as the blonde girl progressed up the shinobi ranks, and showed that she was a trusted comrade. The former, on the other hand… Sakumo felt Naruto would benefit from having her blood type tested. 

 

The last pillar of interest lay in the fate of the Uchiha Clan. Sakumo grimaced when he considered how terribly that situation had been handled, by all parties involved. Who was the idiot that thought massacring an entire clan for the treasonous actions of a handful of its members was a good idea? Or that a fourteen-year-old _ child _ should be forced to do the dirty work of manipulative old men? And later, that an external enemy couldn’t be blamed or a fake death arranged, while Itachi Uchiha was quietly integrated into the ANBU forces? 

 

If Sakumo could grasp solid matter, he would have wrung Danzo’s scrawny little neck for all of the bloodshed he had caused.

 

Not that Itachi hadn’t been forced to play off the interests of two bastards, in a vain attempt to shield his little brother from both Root and the Akatsuki. So Danzo’s neck wasn’t the only one that Sakumo would have wrung, if given half the chance.

 

Shisui didn’t know what he could do to help his younger cousins, beyond a vague desire to keep Sasuke safe and clear Itachi’s name. Sakumo personally doubted that the latter could ever occur in Itachi’s lifetime, with all of the different powerful interests invested in keeping the facade alive. However, it personally burned him to see someone punished for doing the objectively right thing, and the Hatake fervently wanted someone to work for Itachi’s benefit. They couldn’t do anything to help the teen now, but Sakumo privately believed that the missing-nin would be happiest if his brother was taken care of.

 

And that  _ was _ something they could work on, so Sasuke Uchiha’s safety had now become second-only to Naruto’s. Sakumo would do everything that he possibly could to ensure that all of their aims would be met.

 

xxxxx

 

“Is this list accurate?” Hiruzen asked, scanning over the page filled with titles in fluid, slanted script.

 

The scarred Chuunin- Araki, his astute mind supplied- nodded stoically. “Yes, Sandaime-sama. Should I discourage the child from reading those texts?” There was a shadow of bitterness in the way she enunciated ‘the child’, but Hiruzen politely ignored this. He could command his forces to deal with Konoha’s jinchuuriki fairly, but he couldn’t control their personal opinions about her.

 

The venerable Sandaime briefly considered his options, before shaking his head. “No, let her read them for now. But keep me updated on the situation.” 

 

Araki-san nodded, and was dismissed thereafter. A wry smile crossed Hiruzen’s face as he returned to pursuing the list in his hands.

 

_ ‘So, you’re interested in fuuinjutsu now, are you, Naruto-chan?’ _ he thought, amused, ‘ _ I suppose this is to be expected of Minato and Kushina’s daughter. _ ’

 

Hiruzen didn’t monitor the young Uzumaki’s reading habits due to her status as a jinchuuriki or as his honorary granddaughter (though he _ was _ more interested, due to them). Naruto was loyal, stable, and, most importantly, unaware of her jinchuuriki status, which made such oversight a waste of manpower. 

 

No, there were a list of marked books in the library, that every librarian was required to take note of they were read or checked out by someone of genin or below status. Most of these books were about intermediate jutsu theory or beginner-level fuuinjutsu, which didn’t fall under forbidden knowledge, but could cause harm to the user, if they were unprepared. At Chunin level, most people were aware enough of their capabilities to not utilize that knowledge recklessly, but one couldn’t be sure for younger readers. Still, the books on Naruto’s list were either far above her level, and thus, useless to her, or basic enough, that she should be fine.

 

This system was designed to protect precocious but inexperienced students from their own self-confidence, but it had another benefit. They were early indicators of specialization for Academy students and unaffiliated genin. If books about medical theory were checked out, for example, a note would be dispatched to the Iryo-Nin Department. If a student wanted to know about poison utilization, then their names would be added to T&I or ANBU for future reference. Books about advanced trapmaking, geography, or tracking methods, could ensure a message to the Hunter Nin.

 

In Naruto’s case, fuuinjutsu was incredibly versatile, so it was of interest to many departments. While only the Seal Barriers would receive an official notice for now, the other organizations would be notified, if her independent lessons progressed anywhere.

 

‘ _ If she has a quarter of either parent’s talent, then she would be able to slowly learn from the resources available to her, _ ’ Hiruzen acknowledged, smiling, ‘ _ But there are a few better introductory manuals for fuuinjutsu, and how could I be a good grandfather, if I didn’t show them to her? _ ’

 

“Chiaki,” the Sandaime called out, and an ANBU disguised as his assistant walked in, “Is that Academy open tomorrow? No? Then, send a message to Naruto requesting her presence for lunch.” 

 

xxxxx


	6. Chapter 6

“Ha! Perfect landing!” Naruto cheered quietly, as her feet contacted the linoleum floor without a stumble. She windmilled her arms to keep her balance in place, and then withdrew one arm from the strap, swinging the backpack around to her chest. Along with the usual breakfast bento, she had been able to pack a little extra at Shisui’s recommendation, since she received one of Kakashi Hatake’s anonymous, fresh produce gift baskets last night.

 

“Are those for me?” Sasuke asked, his dark eyes fastened to one of the bright red tomatoes withdrawn from the bag. The last Uchiha in Konoha looked much better physically now than when they had first met. Most of his light cuts and bruises had healed, and the dark bags under his eyes were far less prominent. On his bedside table were a stack of colorful books that looked brand new and untouched.

 

“Yep! I even remembered the salt shaker,” the Uzumaki responded, passing the food over to him. Per their usual routine, the taller boy scooted over to the side of the bed, as the blonde girl curled underneath his blanket. Naruto closed her eyes, expecting a few minutes of shut-eye, before Sasuke continued to speak.

 

“How did you know I liked tomatoes?” There was a strange inflection in the boy’s voice, and Naruto was startled when she realized that it was merely the presence of an emotion. She had gotten so used to Sasuke’s dead tone deflecting any interest in how he truly felt, that his curiosity was strange. 

 

‘ _ The ghost of your dead cousin told me _ .’ Naruto’s mouth moved, “Lucky guess, I suppose.”  

 

“You haven’t been talking to _ them _ , have you?” Distaste and wariness started to bleed into the tone.

 

“Them, who?” Naruto reluctantly opened her eyes, and blinked at the Uchiha. “Your guards?”

 

_ ‘Were the ANBU keeping track of his favorite foods now?’ _ the blonde wondered. 

 

“The fangirls,” And now Sasuke’s ink-toned eyes were narrowing, “Are you here for  _ them _ ?”

 

It took a moment for her to understand what he was talking about, because Sasuke Uchiha’s voice was thick with dislike and suspicion, and it was difficult for her to relate that emotion to the brightly-coloured, giggling masses that he was referring to. Then her mind pointed out that ‘ _ of course, the pretty boy Uchiha would have trouble with fangirls’ _ , and that even after his recent trauma, his childish disdain for them was rather adorable, and that she so very dearly wanted to laugh.

 

“No,” Naruto buried her face into the hospital pillow to muffle her amusement. It took a few minutes, but the unexpected mirth drained itself out of her system, and left her far more awake than before. “Trust me, I’m no where  _ near  _ popular enough to hang out with your fangirls.”

 

“Hn.” The dark-haired boy took a bite of his tomato, while looking away from her. A light pink flush was present on his cheeks, and, at that moment, Naruto found herself genuinely liking the traumatized Uchiha. The little humanity that he was willing to show made it harder for her to justify walking away from his problems.

 

Unable to fall back to her nap now, the Uzumaki pushed herself up to a sitting position, and looked towards the new books on the table. They all appeared to be popular works of fiction, more appropriate to a civilian patient than Sasuke, as the unbroken spines proved. Flipping through the top one showed a glossy comic of Princess Gale battling an army of undead soldiers.

 

“Have you actually read any of this?” Naruto inquired, continuing to skim through the pages. The artwork was decent, and the heroine was beautiful, but her rainbow-colored chakra powers looked ridiculous. “Are you- hey! That’s my textbook!”

 

One hand still holding tightly to his treat, the Uchiha was using the other to rifle through her backpack. Ignoring her whine of annoyance, Sasuke drew out a hardcover copy of  _ Basic Chakra Principles II _ , and opened the cover page. “You’re one year above me. How old are you?”

 

“Eight. I started early,” the blonde huffed, holding out her hand, “Give it back, Uchiha.”

 

“Sasuke,” the dark-haired boy absently corrected, turning to the next page, “Can I borrow this for the weekend? I need something to do.”

 

Naruto’s nose scrunched in irritation. “You should have asked permission  _ before _ looking through my bag, you know.”

 

Sasuke looked over at her, and despite the indifferent expression on his face, the Uzumaki could detect humor in his dark eyes. “You seem like a very high-strung type of person.”

 

_ ‘Is every Uchiha this rude, or am I just unlucky enough to get stuck with the blunt ones?’ _ Naruto climbed out of the blanket, snatched her backpack away, and glowered at the bedridden boy. “Well you’re an ungrateful bastard that doesn’t know how to say ‘thank you’!” 

 

Then the offended Uzumaki attempted to stalk away in the best manner that she could when having to straddle over a second-story window. Sasuke kindly left her to the ungainly action, while returning his attention to the textbook that she left behind. Through inability and stubbornness respectively, neither acknowledged the wide grin on a messy-haired ghostly apparition.

 

“I think you two are becoming friends,” Shisui enthused, once they were against the beige-blue walls of the blonde’s apartment. 

 

“He called me high-strung!” Naruto complained, dropping her backpack to the floor.

 

“Which was definitely out of line,” the ghostly teen nodded sagely, “You’re the least temperamental person I know, Naruto-chan.”

 

Not so oblivious that she couldn’t detect his sarcasm, the Academy student glared at him too. “Your cousin is just as rude as you are, Uchiha. I mean, I made him a bento and everything, but he doesn't even have the decency to say ‘thank you’.”

 

“Well Sasuke was never the best at sharing his feelings,” Shisui answered. Before the irate blonde could continue, he changed the subject. “Since there’s no school today, what do you want to do?”

 

The diversion worked, and Naruto’s face briefly showed her confusion. “What do you mean? Aren’t we going to practice taijutsu and then read at the library like always?”

 

“I think we should take a small break from your taijutsu training,” the messy-haired teen appeared guilty, “That sprain on your wrist looked pretty painful yesterday.”

 

“What? No way, would a little bruise like that keep me down! I’ve always healed quickly anyway…” Naruto trailed off, “Being a jinchuuriki does have some benefits, I guess.”

 

The timely arrival of a cold spot of emptiness at the edge of her senses allowed the blonde to move past that awkward recognition. Naruto looked over at the door, a genuine smile crossing her face, as the ghostly form of a tall, broad-shouldered, and silver-haired shinobi wavered through. 

 

“Good morning, Inu-ojii!” The Uzumaki’s smile widened when she was able to read the silent greeting formed by the incorporeal man. “The Uchiha and I just finished visiting his cousin at the hospital.”

 

Sakumo nodded, already aware of his daily morning visit. He focused his grey eyes on the Uchiha and his mouth moved rapidly to exchange a message that was too fast for Naruto to read. She recognized her own name and the word ‘test’ though. When the man was done, a thoughtful expression formed on Shisui’s face.

 

“What did Inu-ojii say?” the blonde asked impatiently.

 

“Sakumo-san thinks there’s a way to narrow down your parentage,” Shisui explained, “He wanted to get your blood tested at the hospital.”

 

Contrary to the Uchiha’s expectations, Naruto’s pale-gold skin turned a pasty white rather than light up in glee. That was strange; the blonde was normally eager to learn about her heritage. Unless… Shisui’s mouth pulled up into a grin.

 

“You’re scared of needles.” The Uzumaki’s face turned bright red and her whiskers bunched together into a scowl.

 

“I am not!” She refused hotly.

 

“Are too.” Shisui snickered.

 

“Am not!”

 

“Are too.”

 

“Am not!”

 

“Are- wait, you didn’t have any problems handling the senbon yesterday. Is it needles specifically that you don’t like?”

 

“I…” Naruto glared at him fiercely. “I don’t like being cut. Or feeling my blood drain out.”

 

_ ‘So bruises are fine but the little firecracker doesn’t like having her skin broken, _ ’ Shisui considered,  _ ‘That might pose an issue with kenjutsu users.’ _

 

While the Uchiha was musing over exposure treatments, the other ghostly form knelt down and looked directly into Naruto’s bright blue gaze. He spoke slowly to help her read his lips.

 

“Are -- you -- scared?”

 

Naruto peeked down, embarrassed to fear something so minor. Inu-ojii’s cold, incorporeal fingers through her hair made the blonde look up again. The white-haired man smiled at her comfortingly.

 

“It’s okay -- to be -- afraid. We -- don’t -- have to -- go.”

 

“I want to know who my parents are,” she admitted. It had been one of her earliest ambitions; a goal that Inu-ojii and Shisui had promised to help her reach. Now that Inu-ojii had found a way to do so, she didn’t want to be the one to hold her back.

 

“We -- can -- find -- another -- way.”

 

Naruto was tempted to agree to this. She was living with two geniuses; they  _ would _ be able to find another way.

 

“I’d like-” But she was a member of the Uzumaki Clan. A Clan that was so strong that two of the Great Villages waged war against them. “-to go.”

 

_ ‘A needle isn’t going to bleed me dry,’  _ Naruto reminded herself,  _ ‘There’s a Bijuu in my stomach. The Kyuubi will heal me before that happens.’  _ That being a jinchuuriki brought her comfort for the second time that day was not lost to her.

 

Another source of comfort was the proud smile on Inu-ojii’s face. “I’ll be -- right beside -- you.”

 

There was no time like the present, so the trio headed to the hospital before Naruto could talk herself out of it. After many days of breaking in through the teme’s window, it felt strange to enter the hospital lobby. To her added benefit, the receptionist was too young to know of her jinchuuriki status and handed her the appropriate forms without the customary flinch.

 

Shisui Uchiha brought himself back into her good graces again by helping her fill out the insurance information. Naruto’s perfect health had been a good reason to ignore the standard coverage offered to all orphans. Much to her displeasure, she learned that blood tests were  _ not _ covered by the insurance and would have to be paid out-of-pocket. 

 

“Your frog wallet looks so stupid,” the Uchiha heckled as she counted the bills out. Not for the first time, Naruto sourly noted that he took full advantage of the public setting to mock her with impunity.

 

A few minutes later, and a wary nurse was leading her to a hospital room. The scent of bleach tickled her nose as she sat in a battered plastic chair. Her sleeve was drawn up, her elbow positioned, her arm swapped with alcohol… Naruto closed her eyes tightly.

 

‘ _ Wha- why is it so cold?! _ ’ Blue eyes snapped open to see that the light around her arm was distorted, as though she had dunk it into a tub of freezing water. Only then they moved to the ghostly boy standing next to her, his arm partially submerged over her own. The icy feeling enclosed her limb, not yet painful but far too numb to feel the metal breaking through her skin.

 

At her confusion, Shisui merely winked and withdrew his hand. Warmer, living fingers replaced them to past a white bandage over her cut. “All done then, Uzumaki-san. Would you like to wait for the results or have them mailed to you?”

 

“I’ll wait, thanks,” the blonde answered automatically, cautiously shaking the aftereffects of the ghostly touch out as the woman corked the vial. That hadn’t hurt at all. But then, she hadn’t even felt the needle’s bite with the Uchiha numbing her skin. 

 

_ ‘He wanted to protect me from the pain.’  _ Such a minor inconvenience, but the dark-haired teen had chosen to help her anyway. It was almost ridiculous just how touched Naruto was by the gesture.

 

Genuine gratitude wasn’t an emotion that the Uzumaki practiced often, and her obsessive need to keep her gift a secret would prohibit voicing it anyway, but she hoped that the Uchiha understood the meaning behind her smile. Judging from his returned expression, he did.

 

Naruto wasn’t allowed to stay in the room while the blood was being processed, so she moved to the plastic-chair-and-ficus-plant waiting room with Shisui. Inu-ojii floated after the wary nurse, presumably to ensure that no one would think to tamper with the jinchuuriki brat’s medical results. Shisui had elected to float by her, staying silent out of respect for Naruto’s fear of revealing her unique ability. They spent a few minutes in companionable silence before one of the rare visitors that passed the lobby recognized her.

 

“Uzumaki-san!” The pleasantly plump and just all around pleasant boy exclaimed, wandering over with a massive, redheaded man that he bore a startling resemblance to. “It’s nice to see you.”

 

“Hello Hedgehog-san,” Naruto replied politely, as Shisui whispered ‘Chouza Akimichi’ into her ear and then promptly admonished her for still using that nickname. The Akimichi boy whose name she really should have gotten around to learning by now didn’t seem to mind though.

 

“This is my Dad,” Hedgehog gestured to the older man. He had an intrigued look on his face, though his brown hinted his amusement. There was a sense of good cheer and innate kindness around him that was also rather similar to his son’s. “We’re here for my check-ups.”

 

Naruto nodded, unwilling to volunteer her own reason. 

 

“Dad, this is Uzumaki Naruto-san,” Hedgehog thankfully continued, “She’s the girl that I told you about yesterday. The one that that climbed all of those trees and won the game for our team.”

 

“Hello Naruto,” Chouza Akimichi had a deep, rolling voice that fitted his appearance well. “It’s good to meet one of my Chouji’s friends. Are you two in the same class?”

 

“No, sir. I’m one year above him.” Naruto mentally filed ‘Chouji’ away in her head. 

 

“Oh, pretty and older than you!” The red-haired man turned and gave Hedgehog an exaggerated wink. “Good choice, son.” Shisui began to snicker.

 

“Dad!” Hedgehog looked appropriately mortified. “We’re just friends! Kiba brought her over to play Shinobi and Samurai with us!”

 

“Of course, of course,” the rumbling voice was filled with barely suppressed laughter. Naruto tried not to fidget as she felt the older Akimichi study her thoughtfully under the guise of humor. “It’s because you don’t want to strain your friendship with Shika-chan, isn’t it? He mentioned her twice now.”

 

Blonde eyebrows rose in consideration. Twice-mentioned didn’t seem to be that big of a deal.

 

Hedgehog noticed her expression. “Shikamaru is too lazy to talk about most of our classmates.”

 

Naruto nodded. Pineapple had looked like the stereotypical slacker to her.

 

“It must have been those blue eyes that drew him in,” Chouza rubbed his chin and peered closely at her. “Yes, yes, it had to be that. Shika-chan finally found a way to admire the sky from indoors.”

 

“Dad, we have to go,” Hedgehog threw her an apologetic glance, grabbing his father and trying to lead him away, “Bye Naruto-san! See you on Monday.”

 

“Eh? But I’m just getting to know Shika-chan’s crush,” Chouza protested, “How can I tell Shikaku-”

 

They hadn’t gotten out of range of the blonde’s sensitive ears before Hedgehog started pleading with his Dad to never say anything like that again. A little befuddled by the entire meeting and slightly flattered at being addressed as Chouji’s friend (with Ino and maybe Kiba and Pineapple, that brought her up to four!), Naruto looked over at Shisui.

 

The ghostly boy waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “So dark-haired genius slackers, Naruto?”

 

The blonde responded with all of the maturity she possessed. She shuddered.  _ “Ew. _ ”

 

Then, quickly remembering that she was out in public and looked like she was making faces at a poster admonishing children about not brushing enough, Naruto resumed her poker face. Thankfully it was only a little longer before the nurse came back to her.

 

“Uzumaki-san, the results have been processed. They contain your blood type and elemental affiliation,” the nurse stated, handing a folder over to her. In place of her previous wary looks, there seemed almost a stoniness in how she looked at her now. “Is there anything else that you need?”

 

“No, thank you.” The blonde accepted the papers and enthusiastically jumped up to her feet. “Goodbye nurse-san!” 

 

Unwilling to wait until she was home to look at a potential link to her parents, Naruto walked out of the waiting room, found the closest supply closet, and turned on the dim, flickering bulb. Both of her ghostly companions entered soon after and found her dubiously regarding a closed bucket of paint.

 

“Ojisan, why did the nurse look at me like that?” Naruto decided to take her chances and sat down.

 

The silver-haired man wasn’t capable of making sounds but the way he seemed to exhale indicated that she would have heard a sigh otherwise. He quickly explained the situation to Shisui.

 

“When she tested the blood, she found bits of the Kyuubi’s corrosive chakra in it,” Shisui explained, “Chakra and blood circulate through different networks, but there’s some overlapping areas, especially in and around the heart. Normally the chakra dissolves too quickly for it to matter but the Kyuubi’s chakra, which the seal keeps injecting into you, is more resilient. It must have spooked her.”

 

“Oh,” Naruto’s smile became fixed. Yet  _ another _ way that being a jinchuuriki made her abnormal. 

 

Sakumo’s icy, not-quite-intangible fingers ran through her hair again and he had another swift conversation with Shisui.

 

“Huh. Now that’s an idea,” the Uchiha remarked, “Naruto, have you considered using your blood as a weapon? Relatively tiny quantities mixed in with poison or smoke bombs could be useful. Demonic chakra is notoriously difficult to heal after all and most people don’t have the same immunity you’ve built up over the years.”

 

She shrugged. “I don’t know. People might get worried if I start the Kyuubi’s chakra as a weapon. Let’s look at the results instead.”

 

The paper was an off-white, porous sheet with neat blocky lettering typed in. On top was her basic medical information and receipt of purchase, which she skimmed over to read the results.

 

_ Naruto Uzumaki Blood Type: B Negative, Rh antigens not present _

 

_ Recipient to B Negative and O Negative Blood _

 

_ Type Affiliation: Yang _

 

_ Elemental Affinity: Wind, Water _

 

“What do the last two mean?” Naruto asked.

 

“Type and elemental affiliation tell you what your chakra is best suited for,” the dark-haired teen fell into a familiar lecturing tone, “You have a yang affinity, so you’ll be more suited to ninjutsu. Your chakra affinities are wind and water, so those types of ninjutsu will be easier for you. It’s easier to use chakra paper to find the results of the last one but a blood test works just as well.”

 

“A wind affinity is one of the rarest affinities to possess. It’s useful for mid-to-long range combat but it’s true specialty is in its adaptability with weapons. There are few people in Konoha that can use it with any finesse,” Shisui smirked, “Danzo’s a dojutsu-stealing creep and Asuma ran away to the Daimyo’s court, so you’re lucky that I happen to have a wind mastery too.”

 

The blonde girl beamed. Shisui acted like such a dork sometimes that it was easy to forget that he happened to be a genius too. Naruto had really lucked out when he decided to become her stalker.

 

“Your second affinity isn’t very common in Fire Country either,” the boy continued, “Itachi had a hell of a time mastering his water affinity. I don’t have one of my own, so I can’t tutor you. I probably can share a few tips though. How about you, Sakumo-san?”

 

The white-haired man shook his head. “I had -- lighting.” 

 

“Does this tell us anything about my parents?” Naruto asked hopefully.

 

“Maybe?” Shisui shrugged, “Elemental affinities are often inherited from our parents. Most Uchiha get a fire affinity and I remember my mom had a wind one. That’s not a consistent rule though. Kami knows where the lightning one came from.”

 

Sakumo’s hand reached down and hovered over the first line. “Your blood -- type is rare. Less -- than 1.5% of people -- have this. Most are from -- the western countries. Ishi -- Kusa -- Ame have them.”

 

“Your coloring is rare too,” Shisui considered the page, “The bright pastel hair colors are also from that region. Do you think your parents may have been refugees from the Third Great War?”

 

“No -- she was -- chosen to be -- a jinchuuriki,” Sakumo shook his head, “One parent -- was an Uzumaki. Wouldn’t have -- let her -- marry foreigner. Grandparents -- must have come -- during Second -- Great War.”

 

“Not Ishigakure then since we didn’t accept any refugees from Iwa’s satellite country,” Shisui mused, “The basic health records were made public after the Kurosaki Clan made a fuss about foreigners bringing in diseases, right? We could narrow down the list from there.”

 

“That’s a -- good idea,” Sakumo agreed. “What do you -- think -- Naruto? Naruto?”

 

Wide blue eyes merely looked between the two males with something akin to wonderment in them. When Shisui looked like he was a heartbeat away from gleefully poking an icy finger in her face, she shook the dazed feeling off. “Sorry. It just seems so unreal that we can move to finding my non-clan parent so quickly.”

 

The Uchiha preened. “You’re welcome.”

 

“Do you -- want to look -- for the -- information now?” A fond smile crossed the silver-haired man’s face as he looked down at her. 

 

Naruto was just about to reply in the positive when she stiffened. Her sensitive hearing picked up on footsteps heading down the corridor. The blonde turned off the single bulb, plunging the closet into darkness, as she waited for the doctor or nurse to walk by. She had chosen a mostly empty basement area of the hospital but the Uzumaki supposed that it was still a public facility.

 

Her breath quickened when the footsteps paused outside of her door. Closing her eyes tightly, she hoped that the person would pass. No such luck.

 

“Uzumaki Naruto?” The brown-haired man had a blue bandanna, a senbon, a Chuunin vest, and a puzzled expression as he looked down at her. “I was sent here by the Hokage to pass on a message.”

 

“I see,” Naruto paused, “There’s a perfectly good explanation for why I am here, shinobi-san.”

 

The man nodded affably. “I don’t really care about your pranks, kid. Just take the note and remember to show up for lunch.”

 

“I’ve never missed an opportunity for free food,” the blonde assured, accepting the note. She had only engaged in the occasional prank last year, but apparently they were flashy enough to earn her the title of consummate prankster. Which, while not great for her reputation, did let her engage in some weird behavior every now and then for a ‘prank’. 

 

The man left after his task was finished and before she could ask him for his name. Naruto had seen him around the Hokage Tower before and had mentally dubbed him ‘Senbon Bandana’. Not to be confused with his buddy, ‘Scary Bandana’, that ran the T&I division. The blonde then gave her assent and was led by Oji-san to the Konoha Civilian Records building. It was a large, drafty building with circular walls, drab brown paint, and minimal oversight.

 

The eight-year-old had only needed to sign her name to gain entrance and the bored-looking old man in the front seemed more interested in his magazine then her. It was bright orange, which being that it was Naruto’s favorite color, had almost gained a second look before Inu-ojii hastily put his hand in front of her eyes. Naruto blinked. The image on the other side had blurred over.

 

“Let’s head to the stacks, Naru-chan,” Shisui coaxed, an off-note to his tone, “Nothing to see here.”

 

Had the man not been present Naruto would have given him a look of blatant disbelief. Did they really think her so naive that she didn’t know what hentai magazines were?

 

Not willing to follow that line of thought, the blonde entered the room with the actual files and paused at the door. The cavernous room was entirely empty but, more to the point, filled with dozens upon dozens of filing cabinets stuffed to the brim with messy, disorganized files.

 

Naruto inadvertently gasped in dismay. “We have to look through  _ all of this _ ?” 

 

Ojii-san poked her to gain her attention. “Not at all. Konoha -- stopped letting -- refugees in -- after the second -- year of the -- war.”

 

“Hanzo gained full control of Ame’s borders in a few months of the war,” Shisui commented, “Don’t worry about this, Naru-chan. Sakumo-san and I will do the reading; just open the file cabinets and organize the papers for us.”

 

This idea was a lot more appealing for the Uzumaki. She may visit the library more often, but Naruto hadn’t become  _ that _ devoted a reader. She moved to the proper cabinets, labelled by year, and started taking out the files and laying them on the desk. With two speed readers available, they moved quickly through the first cabinet, the second, the third, and soon Naruto’s arms were starting to burn.

 

‘ _ So much for my high endurance, _ ’ the blonde thought crossly, taking in deeper breaths. She refused to complain though. This was a definitive step towards uncovering her heritage and her contribution was basically being the arms of two geniuses. She flexed her arms a little between some files and it took the edge off the soreness building there.

 

Ojisan noticed though. “Want to -- take a break?”

 

Pigtails swung left and right as the bewhiskered hastily shook her head. Reading the stubbornness in the jut of her chin, the silver-haired man didn’t press the issue. His reading speed did slow considerably afterward though.  

 

The stacks of read files were starting to challenge Naruto’s height when Shisui finally found something. “Wow.. she looks just like you!”

 

“Who?” Naruto barely remembered to put down her current bundle of papers before heading over to the Uchiha’s side. “What did you find?”

 

The Uchiha wordlessly shoved the paper towards her and Naruto’s mouth fell open. The woman in the picture could have been her older sister. Straight, golden hair fell over tanned skin and a gentle smile, while sea-blue eyes stared into the camera with apprehension. She didn’t have Naruto’s whisker marks, mischievous grin, or button nose, but the resemblance was still uncanny. They had to be related somehow!

 

“Nagase Sayuri, age 17, escaped Amegakure with Uncle and entered Konoha on civilian refugee status, March 14,” Shisui read out, “Left behind a mother, sister and younger brother in Ame. Health check completed. Results approved. No active chakra network. Blood type: B Negative.”

 

“Too old -- to be your -- mother,” Ojiisan noted, “Likely married -- a man in Konoha. This is your -- grandmother, Naruto.”

 

“My grandmother?” Naruto stared at the picture intently. There was no way to pin down the maelstrom of emotions inside of her now. There was euphoria, of course, to have a picture and a name, but there were others too. Shock? That she had found the woman at all. Pity? Sayuri Nagase had fled her over war and death. Sorrow? She had lost a grandmother she never knew she had. 

 

_ ‘She would have been a kind woman,’  _ Naruto thought, looking at that gentle smile wistfully, ‘ _ The type of grandmother that liked to give lots of hugs and teased you about the boys were friends with. _ ’

 

“Do we know who she married?” The blonde asked. Nagase was her grandmother’s surname but it was unlikely that she kept it when she got married. Most marriages favored the surname of the older, more respected family involved, which was why she didn’t know if her mother or father was the Uzumaki, but Nagase didn’t sound like an important clan.

 

“No. The information might be in the old marriage certificates, but I think you need a pass to check that bureau,” Shisui informed her, “We have a picture of her uncle though. This would be your great-uncle, Nagase Mamoru.”

 

Mamoru looked to be a tall man in his mid-to-late forties, with laugh lines around his mouth, a short beard, and… “He has orange hair.”

 

“He does,” the Uchiha said, “His blood type is O negative, which is even rarer than yours. Kami, your family has the  _ worst  _ luck as blood recipients, Naruto.”

 

“He has orange hair,” the Uzumaki parroted, a frown forming on her face. “Why don’t  _ I _ have orange hair?”

 

The dark-haired teen stared at her. “Why would you  _ want _ orange hair?”

 

Naruto looked away. “Orange is my favorite color.”

 

“Green is mine, but you don’t see me dying my hair that color,” Shisui rolled his eyes and then she could feel ghostly cool fingers ruffling her hair. Naruto tried to violently shake them off. “Besides I like your blonde hair. It suits you.”

 

The Uzumaki paused and blushed slightly. Compliments about her appearance were rare and it was flattering to receive them from a cute, older boy. Sure said cute, older boy was Shisui, who was a dork, but it was flattering nonetheless. 

 

True to the boy’s character, he dashed it a second later. “You could stand to brush it once in awhile though. Look at how nice and straight your grandmother’s hair is. You could tell that  _ she _ , at least, owns a comb.”

 

Naruto’s eyelid twitched. “Teme Uchiha.”

 

Ojiisan’s icy hand on her head made her wince and remember to keep that particular insult for when her father-figure wasn’t present. Shisui smirked at her and found out that ghosts apparently  _ were  _ capable of hitting each other over the head. Far more cheerful now, Naruto returned to gazing with silent adoration at her grandmother’s image.

 

“Nagase Sayuri,” she whispered, “I wonder what your life was like.” 

 

They had the first puzzle piece and from there, Naruto knew, the remainder of her heritage would be uncovered.

 

x


	7. Chapter 7

They spent another hour or so searching through the files but other than a work certificate for Mamoru as a construction worker, they weren’t able to find anything. When Naruto’s stomach started to grumble, Inu-oji took one look at the clock on the wall and informed her that it was lunchtime.

 

“Are you coming with me, Inu-oji?” Naruto asked, tipping the files over until they more or less fell into the proper cabinets. 

 

The silver-haired man shook his head. “Want - to check - something.”

 

Naruto nodded and looked at the other ghost. “Do you want to come Shisui?”

 

The dark-haired teen had an unusual expression on his face. His brows were furrowed, as if in pain, and a grimace was present on his face. It made him look a lot more like the typical Uchiha, but Naruto didn’t think it suited his face nearly as well as his usual cheerful smiles.

 

“I’d rather not,” Shisui responded darkly, “I don’t particularly want to see the man that ordered my cousin to massacre the rest of my clan.”

 

“R-right,” the Uzumaki gulped. She didn’t like to think about what her honorary grandfather had done to the family of her sort-of best friend. It showed a ruthless side of the Sandaime Hokage that Naruto had never seen before, though intellectually knew must have existed. The man had fought in three shinobi wars after all; there must be entire fields filled with the corpses of his enemies.

 

‘ _ It would be so much easier if I could just blame Danzo for the entire mess, _ ’ she reflected unhappily. 

 

The Uchiha looked into her eyes for a moment and then his face softened. “Have a good lunch chibi-chan. When you’re done, we can burn off those calories with some more taijutsu practice.”

 

“Don’t call me chibi-chan,” Naruto complained half-heartedly, glad to have broken the momentary tension. “I’ll see you at the training ground later. Have fun and don’t spend all of your time staring at poor little-teme.”

 

Walking down the streets of Konoha with her grandmother and great-uncle’s files tucked safely into her backpack- the informational security really was awful- was a novel experience for Naruto. There were still hastily averted eyes and skittish adults to wade through, but those flimsy papers formed an emotional barrier that protected the blonde from the villager’s fear and distrust. She didn’t consider that it was the same feeling Shisui’s presence brought her, since the ghostly teen was so adept at riling her up or monopolizing her attention that she was indifferent to everyone else around her.

 

Today featured some of Fire Country’s best weather; the sun was shining brightly in a robin’s egg blue sky without being overbearing and the breeze periodically ruffled her bangs. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was a beautiful place, with an abundance of trees, circular buildings with brightly tiled roofs, and gentle streams cutting through many streets. Civilians could easily maneuver over the wide sidewalks or small red bridges, while flitting shadows from above hinted at the protection of the shinobi that were always present. Naruto loved Konoha, even if she didn’t necessarily like all of the people that inhabited it.

 

_ ‘This is the village that my family built,’ _ the blonde was filled with a rare emotion - pride - as she looked at the women gossiping over laundry, the old men playing shogi under the shade, and the children shrieking in laughter, ‘ _ A home where rival shinobi clans could come together and protect one another. A refuge for people like Grandmother Sayuri, who had to escape war in her own home. _ ’

 

It may have been over a century since the first bargain was struck between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha but the essence of their agreement still survived. Children could grow up happy and protected under the gaze of their Hokage. A friendship could form between Naruto Uzumaki and Shisui Uchiha, descendants of two rival clans.

 

_ ‘I am getting way too introspective,’ _ Naruto decided. “Hey Sunglasses! Is the Old Man in?”

 

“Hokage-sama should be available in a few minutes, Naruto-chan,” the shinobi with the spiky dark hair said, ignoring the current secretary’s spluttering over her skidding into the room, “Why don’t you take a seat? Do you want a juice?”

 

“No, thanks. Ojiisan is going to take me out to lunch,” Naruto replied. As a tokubetsu jounin that usually hung around the Tower, she had seen him often. He was one of the few ninja that didn’t look disgruntled when she showed up. In fact, he treated her with a sort of distant indulgence most of the time. “Can I see your eyes now?”

 

“No, you cannot,” Sunglasses looked amused when she pouted at him, “You can use my real name though. Aoba isn’t too hard to say, is it?”

 

“Sunglasses sounds better,” she responded idly, “Have you gone on any cool missions lately?”

 

“Hmm, none that are within your security clearance,” Sunglasses mused, “I did have to supervise a genin team for a friend of mine. They were clearing out weeds for an old lady up in the north sector.”

 

Naruto looked at him dubiously. Like she was going to believe that tripe about D-rank missions. There’s no way Konoha would send fully-fledged ninjas out on missions to  _ weed gardens _ of all things.

 

Sunglasses snickered as though he knew what she was thinking. Naruto stuck her tongue out at him. The Academy student leaned back in her seat, merrily swung her legs, and observed the Hokage’s latest eye candy. Ojiisan was _ totally _ a pervert because the melons on the recent secretary were roughly the size of a baby’s head. 

 

She was debating the pros and cons of asking if they were real- on one hand, it would offend the woman and on the other, it was fun to offend people- when she heard her name called.

 

“You must be Naruto Uzumaki,” the lazily drawling voice belonged to an older version of Pineapple, except for two scars slanting the right side of his face. He had just left the Hokage’s office with a slim file in his hand. “My son talked about you.”

 

“You must be Pineapple’s dad,” Naruto pasted her most impertinent smile on her face. The one that loudly proclaimed how much of a damn she did not give about this. “Is the Old Man available?”

 

“He is,” Pineapple’s dad stepped aside and let her move through the door. “Why do you call him Pineapple?”

 

“I didn’t want to call him ‘Sloth’, since he might have just been having an off day,” the blonde informed him frankly. She heard a snort from behind her before the sound of retreating footsteps signalled Pineapple’s dad’s removal.

 

“Old Man, it’s good to see you,” Naruto enthused, a smile of genuine pleasure crossing her face as she saw the elderly Hokage contentedly smoke from his chair. Despite her confused feelings about his part in the Uchiha Massacre, she did rather like the one living adult that protected her throughout her childhood. “Has the new eye candy been treating you well?”

 

“Ah, Naruto-chan, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the Sandaime looked embarrassed, “What happened to proper ladylike behavior?”

 

“Never really caught on,” the Uzumaki shrugged, “Are we going to get some ramen now?”

 

“Actually I was planning on an indoor lunch today,” the Sandaime stood up and chuckled over the horror on the blonde’s face. “Fear not. I have ordered several bowls of Ichiraku Ramen for you.”

 

Naruto released a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank Kami. I thought I wasn’t going to get my ramen fix today.”

 

“Oh? Teuchi-san told me that you were visiting less often than before?” Hiruzen inquired, leading her to a side room of the office that held a polished table surrounded by scarlet couches. This was normally the meeting room for the Elder Council, so Naruto gleefully took Danzo’s usual seat. She was  _ so _ going to stain his seat with her lunch. It was antithesis to the blonde’s nature to waste any delicious ramen broth, but this was for a good cause. 

 

“I’ve been trying to eat more green stuff to better my diet.” Naruto’s face twisted into a moue of disgust. Ojiisan asked her politely to eat vegetables. Shisui stuck his arm through her head and gave her brain freeze until she capitulated.

 

“That was a mature decision on your part, Naruto. I’m proud of you.” The old man handed her one of Ichiraku's take-out containers. There were at least eight more stacked by his feet and this, along with the compliment, made the Uzumaki beam. “I’ve also heard that you were visiting the library more.”

 

“...That’s kind of weird, Ojiisan. You don’t stalk me, do you?” Naruto looked mildly freaked out, as compared to the far more extensive panic attack she was having inside. However kind the old man was to her, she still didn’t want to share her ghost-speaking ability with anyone living!

 

“No, no, Teuchi-san just likes to gossip,” Hiruzen waved it off and the blonde relaxed. “I do receive updates on advanced books taken out by Academy students though. You selected some interesting reading material in the last week.”

 

Naruto eyed him thoughtfully as she swirled the pork ramen in her package. It contained extra menma, just the way she liked it, so he couldn’t have been too mad. “Am I in trouble, Old Man?”

 

“Not at all!” The Hokage exclaimed, “Unless there’s a prank that you’d like to confess now?” 

 

When she vehemently shook her head- Shisui didn’t give her any time for pranks, dammit- he continued. “I’m glad that you're taking an interest in seals, Naruto. Fuuinjutsu is a dying art in Konoha, which is an absolute shame considering how powerful and versatile it happens to be.” 

 

Naruto hesitated. “Thanks.”

 

“I heard that you checked out a book on old clans too.”

 

“This isn’t helping the stalker case, Old Man.”

 

The Hokage regarded her with sad eyes. “ _ The Comprehensive Guide to Shinobi Clan History  _ doesn’t have many personal details about the Uzumaki, does it?” 

 

There was a sharp intake of breath. Naruto swirled the ramen even faster as she blinked furiously. She wasn’t going to cry. There was a folder in her backpack with a copy of her clan symbol and profiles of two relatives.  _ She wasn’t going to cry. “ _ Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“Most people have forgotten about the clan, and for your own protection, we thought that it should be kept that way,” Hiruzen reached out and gently removed the container of ramen from her hands. He placed it on the table and carefully squeezed her hands while Naruto continued her determined blinking. “There are enough shinobi today that would happily steal a kunoichi with the Uzumaki vitality and potential to be a seal mistress. You chose to pursue fuuinjutsu in honor of the Uzumaki Clan, didn’t you?”

 

“You told me you didn’t know who my parents were,” Naruto accused, rubbing her eyes.

 

“I did,” the Hokage admitted, “Your mother’s name was Kushina Uzumaki. She came here as a child before the Uzumaki Clan was destroyed during the Uzushio Sacking. She was almost kidnapped from the village when she was fourteen years old due to her unique chakra and talent with seals.”

 

“And my father?” The blonde asked. ‘ _ Kushina Uzumaki. My mother’s name was Kushina Uzumaki. _ ’

 

“Your father… was a powerful shinobi,” Hiruzen said carefully, “Due to the danger of his profession, he drew up a will the moment Kushina learned that she was pregnant with you. As his only child, you will inherit almost everything upon your promotion to Chuunin. Until then, his legacy will be kept in trust by a friend of his. One of the statements in his will was that, if both he and Kushina were unable to raise you, then his identity would be kept secret for your protection.”

 

Naruto considered this. She wanted to be resentful about the secrets that were being kept for her but she wasn’t so blind as to deny that  _ she _ wasn’t keeping secrets too. The blonde also didn’t want to to be angry at the Old Man for following her father’s will. That seemed just as hypocritical as people disliking her for the Kyuubi.

 

“What if _ I  _ figure out who my Dad is?” The Uzumaki bargained instead.

 

The Old Man looked briefly surprised. “Well, then I suppose that there’s nothing holding me back from telling you about him. You still won’t be inheriting anything, mind you.”

 

“Deal,” Naruto grinned. Sayuri Nagase was a civilian refugee, whose son became a powerful ninja that married a cousin of the Senju. She clearly took after her paternal side in looks and how many strong, probably civilian-born shinobi were there with her appearance? “Do I look like him?”

 

“No comment,” the Hokage replied, smiling. Feeling a lot better, Naruto picked up her ramen again and then deliberately splashed some over the couch seat. “I will say that if you didn’t spend nine months in her stomach, people would wonder if Kushina was even involved in your birth.”

 

_ ‘So, my father had blonde hair and blue eyes,’ _ the Uzumaki looked satisfied. “Can you tell me about my mother?” 

 

“I can. When she came to Konoha, Kushina stayed with her great-aunt Mito, who happened to be the widow of my old sensei,” Hiruzen responded, “What would you like to know?”

 

Naruto didn’t even have to think about it. “Did she like ramen?”

 

x

 

‘ _ Storage room, storage room, storage room, ooh, a map! _ ’ Shisui thought, enthusiasm spiking as he floated through the rocky corridor. The system of tunnels behind the Hokage Monument was one of Konoha’s best defensive positions and one of the few that was never fully mapped out for ANBU. The dark-haired Uchiha had been forced to memorize several passages when he was part of the elite corps, but, for security reasons, there were only a handful of shinobi in the entire village that knew all of the secrets the mountain held.

 

_ ‘A handful of shinobi and one nosy Uchiha,’ _ the teen cackled and rubbed his hands gleefully,  _ ‘Ghosts really do make the best spies!’ _

 

He would have to make a few more trips in order to fully memorize the passage system, but he had made good work of the southern sector so far. This was the area that the civilians had been evacuated to during the Kyuubi Attack and, before that, Iwa’s invasion into Konoha from the Aburame Compounds. Most of the rooms were filled with rations to withstand a long siege, deepwater wells, and a seal-based waste management system, but he had found one room stuffed to the brim with basic ninja supplies. The Uchiha planned to direct the blonde here when he started Naruto’s kenjutsu training, since the orphan’s stipend didn’t account for wooden bokken or shinguards.

 

This room wasn’t one of the cookie-cutter survival bunks though. Doton and possibly katon jutsu had been used to shape the reddish walls into a vaguely hexagonal shape and every inch of each wall was carved into maps. A two meter trench followed the edges of the room’s floor while the center had an upraised dias for shinobi to sit around. The dias itself was clearly the centerpiece and had the most detailed topographical map of Konoha and its surrounding forests that Shisui had ever seen.

 

_ ‘This room must be for planning if Konoha leadership ever got pushed into the mountains,’  _ the Uchiha noticed that parts of the map, especially sewer areas and out-of-corner alleys were painted green, ‘ _ A last-ditch guerrilla warfare base against a conquering army. _ ’

 

The thought of his village ever reaching a point of such desperation made the loyal shinobi shudder. Nonetheless he floated closer to study the map, while mentally chiding himself for neglecting his rapid memorization skills. Shisui had developed the Sharingan at a young age and had had a perfect tool to bypass the more difficult techniques introduced to Chuunin.

 

‘ _ There are two tunnels directly leading from the Nara Forest to the Village Square and the Hospital. A false floor underneath the Keibi Hotel? I thought that place had been shut down for years… ooh, what’s this? An Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple? How have I never heard of this before? Naruto would certainly be interested.’ _

 

Taking special note of the Uzumaki Temple, Shisui moved on the maps on the wall.

 

‘ _ Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, Uzushiogakure, and a complete rendering of the Konoha sewer systems. Hmm, some are more detailed than others but they’re all superior to the publicly available ones. I wonder when this room was made… it couldn’t have been after the Second War, if they had Uzushio’s information here. _ ’ 

 

The ghostly teen raised his hand to trace one of the winding rivers of Iwa when he felt a subtle pressure against incorporeal fingers. A tentative poke found a thin membrane of energy that made his fingertip buzz as it broke through. ‘ _ Chakra? _ ’

 

Shisui focused on not pushing his finger through the wall as he traced the river upwards. The buzzing feeling followed but as he broke sideways into the rolling valleys, it stopped. Shisui paused and poked the area again. There was no layer of chakra here, nor on the other rivers or the main gate into the village. Then his palm brushed against one barren area marking grassland and he felt a thin buzz crossing his skin. 

 

_ ‘Is there a shape here? _ ’ Shifting strategies, Shisui pressed his index finger at the center spot of the river and moved left until the buzz stopped. Keeping that finger there, he lined his thumb in a parallel spot and moved rightward, until the buzz also stopped. ‘ _ Roughly 4 cm thick. _ ’

 

His fingers pinched into the proper position, the Uchiha shifted them upwards and found that the thickness stated constant. They continued up for almost a meter before the line seemed to bend leftward without any noticeable landmark on the page. Shisui tracked this thin membrane of chakra further on, occasionally having to shift his position to comfortably grasp the line. Eventually he was crouched at the bottom of the trench, having traced most of the five-pronged stabilization base.

 

_ ‘Reading the chakra would be so much easier with my Sharingan…’  _ Shisui moped. 

 

That settled it. Naruto’s fuuinjutsu studies would have to be accelerated until they could find a way for him to use his bloodline. It had been less than a month and the teenage Uchiha still couldn’t figure out how any of those other ninja survived without a Sharingan of their very own. It was  _ terrible _ .

 

x

 

Inoichi Yamanaka unintentionally mimicked his daughter’s latest friend by pausing at the door of the bar and looking around for Ino. Left. Right. Back. With a relieved sigh, the shinobi ducked into the room and promptly sat down beside his two best friends. He loved his little princess, but her newfound interest in becoming an intelligence officer translated to keeping track of his drinking habits and then tattling about them to his wife, Minoru.

 

“How are you guys?” Inoichi greeted, signalling for his customary saucer of Fire Lily sake. 

 

“Pretty good. I got sent to Kusa to deal with that border dispute from last year and it wasn’t half the hassle I thought it would be,” Chouza answered, tossing his drink back. “Bartender! Another for me.”

 

“Hmm,” was Shikaku’s contribution. Despite the fact that it was barely after noon, the man was still slumped on his seat, looking like he had just been kicked out of bed. Inoichi wasn’t concerned; this was his default position.

 

“What do you two think about the Uzumaki girl?” One eyelid opened as Shikaku took an appreciative sniff of the hot sake in front of him. 

 

“Are we moving straight to business?” Chouza asked. 

 

Inoichi looked between his friends in surprise. “You two want to talk about her too?”

 

“She played Shinobi and Samurai with Chouji and Shika during lunch,” the Akimichi explained good-naturedly, “Apparently, she made enough of an impression for Shika to talk about her later. How about you?”

 

“She shares a desk with Ino for kunoichi lessons. Ino invited her over after school and I think she spooked Minoru, but we haven’t discussed whether we should let the friendship progress.”

 

“Shika noticed that some of the boys in the group couldn’t play with them any more after their parents told them to stay away from Uzumaki. I told him that he should make his own decision about her and I think he chose to continue the friendship.” Shikaku finally brought the drink to his mouth.

 

“Well, I know that Chouji trusts Shika’s judgement on this. I spoke to her briefly at the hospital and she seems like a good girl. I’d allow this friendship.”

 

“If you two are sure about this, then I won’t interfere with Ino,” Inoichi smiled fondly, “You know, it might turn out for the best. Ino’s been moping recently after she got into a fight with her pink-haired friend over some boy. Naruto strikes me as a late-bloomer for romance.”

 

“More to the point,” Shikaku interjected, indifferent to the conflicts of little girls, “What was she doing at the hospital?” 

 

Chouza considered it. “It couldn’t have been a routine check-up since her  _ tenant _ takes care of those minor issues. She didn’t have any papers to fill out, so she probably already finished her business before we came in. But she was also waiting in the lobby so it was likely a test with quick results.”

 

“Blood test then,” the Nara stated, matter-of-fact. “Interesting.”

 

“I heard that she was visiting the Uchiha kid at the hospital every day,” Inoichi added, taking another sip, “She got him to sleep after her first visit so the ANBU kept letting her in.”

 

“Is it true that Boar’s one of the ANBU stuck guarding the Uchiha?” Chouza wanted to know. “I heard he pissed Tomo-san off so much that she won’t let him out of the village for the  _ next three months _ .”

 

“You heard correctly,” Inoichi had an evil grin on his face, “I knew skipping out on paperwork was going to bite him in the ass eventually.”

 

“Just goes to show that you shouldn’t mess with the admins,” Shikaku chuckled. “Did you guys hear about Tatsuya’s- the one in Cryptology- affair with his genin student?”

 

Between good alcohol and even better company, the three friends engaged themselves in what lesser men would call a gossip circle. Every now and then though, Inoichi made sure to look around to check for his daughter. Being dragged home by a scolding eight-year-old was embarrassing enough the first time around.

 

x

 

There was surprisingly little benefit to stalking Danzo around all day. 

 

This was the unhappy realization that Sakumo Hatake came to after a full three hours spent watching the elder complete miscellaneous paperwork, partake in lunch, and berate an unfortunate underling for ruining his tea. Oh, there was the interesting note of several ANBU-like masked ninja that reported to him throughout the time but Sakumo already knew the man had a private army and wasn’t privy to most news anyway. There was a hierarchy to such systems and it was only the summarized briefings that would pass middle management and go to the bastard above.

 

Some of that information- Kumo’s recent investment into the Land of Snow’s battle technology and Taki’s poaching of talented Kusa genin- was valuable in the abstract but not to an eight-year-old Academy student or her ghostly companions. Another key observation was the effeminate platinum blonde hair of one of Konoha’s signature clans.

 

‘ _ I wonder if that Ne member was a loan. Danzo would certainly get in trouble for clan theft otherwise.’  _

 

The only point that made this entire event bearable was the fact that the paranoid Danzo Shimura had sensitive chakra abilities. Having him surreptitiously look around every now and then- because the hairs at the back of his neck told him that  _ someone _ was watching him- was exceedingly amusing. The Hatake wasn’t quite juvenile enough to stick his icy limbs through the man though he had no doubt that his younger fellow ghost would have.

 

Perhaps convinced that he was being watched, Danzo didn’t go to any secret bases or disclose vital government secrets. Instead most of the paperwork done covered menial tasks or were backdated to more recent filing methods. Sakumo was just nosy enough to hover over his shoulder and read them.

 

The Hatake was disciplined enough to pay attention to every piece of dull minutiae but there was one document that brought his attention to full fore. ‘ _ Are those orders for Amegakure? _ ’

 

The details unfolded in all of its faded-ink horror. A date marked well into the Third War. A deal brokered with one of Konoha’s most bitter enemies. A slaughter ordered in Konoha’s name by ninjas outside of the Sandaime’s control. This was more than just manipulation or acting around the law.

 

A wartime agreement with a declared enemy of the Leaf was  _ treason _ .

 

Danzo’s hand shifted that paper to a shredder placed beside the desk and yellowish-white confetti fell into the trash. This changed little though. He had broken faith with Konoha and Sakumo knew it.

 

x

 

_ Alexkitkat had an excellent question about why Sakumo didn’t already know Naruto’s heritage. Here is my reasoning: _

 

_ “Sakumo didn't actually know that Kushina Uzumaki was the jinchuuriki. Kushina also wasn't the only Uzumaki in Konoha at the time (when the sacking of Uzushio happened, some people had escaped and their first thought would be to escape to an allied village founded by their cousin clan) and got pregnant well after Sakumo died. They weren't particularly close either, since they moved in different generational circles. _

 

_ Minato, on the other hand, is someone that Sakumo worked with often. He strongly suspects that Minato is Naruto's father but wants more evidence before admitting it to her (since it runs the dual risk of telling Naruto her father is both her favorite Hokage and the man that sealed a demon into her). Should Minato end up not being her father, it would cause a lot of emotional backlash for Naruto. Subconsciously, Sakumo is also reluctant to give up his position as Naruto's father-figure to the man who actually is her father and that might be holding him back from admitting his suspicions to her. _

 

_ I know that Sakumo, having existed in ghostly form, could have followed his son around and learned all of these secrets before Naruto's birth but he didn't have that kind of initiative. The first year of his death was spent frantically trying to get *anyone* to notice him and communicate on his behalf to Kakashi, and then after that, he fell into a deep depression for over a decade. It wasn't until a little orphan girl looked *at* him rather than *through* him that any spirit returned to his life. _

 

_ And it would just make the plot too easy if Sakumo had all the answers.” _


	8. Chapter 8

“Ha! You call that stamina? An arthritic merchant prince could outrun you with that!” Shisui gleefully shoved his hand through her shoulder blades, causing the Uzumaki to jump up in a yelp, “Stop windmilling your arms! Don’t you know they build up wind resistance?”

 

“Go- _ ah _ \- fuck your-  _ hah _ \- self bastard,” Naruto forced her trembling legs forward. 

 

“That’s bastard-sensei to you,” the teen reminded her, flipping his body over until he was floating horizontally at eye-level. Not having to rely on human factors like breathing or  _ moving his legs _ , he was able to easily keep pace. “And I think that’s worth another two laps, don’t you?”

 

Naruto would have said something very inappropriate right now, if her lungs bothered to cooperate and if Shisui’s eyes weren't filled with a certain eagerness that she now attributed to Uchiha elitism and a desire to prove his superiority. Teme junior had the same look on his face when he returned her textbook last night with the exercises for the first six chapter already completed.

 

The blonde’s irritation for his presumption didn’t stop her from copying the answers down in her own barely intelligible scrawl of course. No need to be wasteful here.

 

Making her run laps around the beaten track of one of Konoha’s genin team training fields was a new form of torture. The Uzumaki had learned only yesterday that her stamina wasn’t an impressive as she had believed and now it was being reinforced by the way her thighs burned as she ran her fifth lap. She wouldn’t have even been here if her morning hospital visit hadn’t yielded the news that Sasuke had been discharged. 

 

‘ _ Teme Jr. could have left a note or something to tell me where he is now, _ ’ the Uzumaki reflected, not even considering how she previously wanted nothing to do with the traumatized boy. She unknowingly pumped her legs faster as the wide oak that marked the midpoint of her lap came up. ‘ _ Ugh. I hope I have time to shower before class _ .’

 

She was rapidly reaching her typical level of unpopularity amongst her classmates. No need to make it worse by coming in drenched in sweat.

 

“Jog for the last one,” the dark-haired boy ordered and Naruto gratefully slowed her pace. “Take a few deep breaths. Don’t bend your body over. You didn’t do terribly Naruto-chan.” 

 

The blonde was too busy gulping in massive intakes of oxygen to reply. She sent a middle finger over.

 

“Recite the five main shinobi villages and their home country now.” At her dismayed look, he justified himself. “You have a quiz today and I refuse to let you ruin my perfect tutoring record with a poor score.”

 

The bewhiskered girl looked dubious. “You’ve tutored people before?” 

 

A wistful expression crossed the teen’s face and he shrugged. “Only Itachi and he’s a genius, so you have a hard legacy to carry.” 

 

The blonde didn’t pursue that line of conversation. The subject of Konoha’s latest defector and untold hero was one that made her uncomfortable and her makeshift sensei unhappy. “Kumogakure is in the Land of Lightning, Kirigakure is in the Land of Water, Sunagakure…” 

 

Between sipping from her bottle of water and sitting down to catch her breath, Naruto managed to answer six of the eight questions asked. She stumbled over the current Daimyo’s heir and couldn’t list the two ports connected to Kiri. Itachi Uchiha presumably would have been able to answer them all.

 

When she was done, Shisui offered her one of his rare smiles. While the dark-haired Uchiha was often a cheerful person, his default happy expression was a wide, ear-to-ear mischievous grin rather than the small gesture he showed now. “Good job Naruto-chan. I think you’ll do well on this quiz.”

 

Despite her nervousness, she managed to return the smile. This was the first quiz that her class had gotten since she met Shisui and the first time that the answers wouldn’t be fed to her by a ghostly bookworm. Naruto had studied for it but there was the still the minor nervousness that she would probably always associate with academia.

 

“We have a good hour left so I think we can visit Sasuke before class,” Shisui ordered, “I followed him to his new apartment from the hospital while you were sleeping this morning.”

 

“Oh, good,” Naruto said brightly, “Then I’m not the only minor that you stalk in your free time.”

 

“Nope but you are the most adorable,” the Uchiha matched her tone, “And you’re the only one who’s bedroom I spend any time in.”

 

“You sound like a creep, Uchiha. Wait… you don’t watch me change or anything, do you?”

 

“Why would I do that? There’s nothing of interest to see.”

 

“Hey! I’m eight- I still have a lot of growing left to do!”   
  


“So I can watch you undress when you’re fourteen or so?”

 

“You can’t watch me undress at all,” Naruto’s blue eyes narrowed accusingly, “You don’t  _ peek _ on anyone, do you Shisui?”

 

The guilty expression on his face told her everything. “Shisui! You- you- you PERVERT!”   
  


“I don’t enter any homes or anything like that,” the dark-haired boy protested, “Mixed hot springs are fair game. The women in there  _ know _ that a man could walk in and see them at any moment. Besides I’m an invisible teenage boy that can float through walls and never be noticed. What did you think was going to happen?”

 

The Uzumaki just kept shaking her head. “A pervert. I’m living with a pervert. Kami, everyone I  _ know _ is a pervert!”

 

She paused and cocked her head to the side. “Except Ojii-san. He alone remains pure in my eyes.”

 

Shisui’s eyebrows rose. “As far as  _ you  _ know… Can we just go to Sasuke’s place now?”

 

“We might as well. Anything has to be better than thinking about Ojii-san’s sex life,” Naruto shuddered. “Lead the way, ero-sensei.”

 

Then she yelped and nearly jumped a foot into the air as an icy hand was shoved into her back. “I’m not above assigning laps for disrespect, Naru-chan. Now, I think we turn right here…” 

 

The blonde fell into a tired but contented silence as she followed the ghostly teen’s directions to his cousin’s apartment. She was mindful of the fact that kept to deserted but still public streets; carefully orienting a look of indifference on her face, even when Shisui walked into a tree before remembering that he could will his body through his solid surfaces. When they finally arrived, it was to a medium-sized apartment building in one of the nicer shinobi districts of the village. The walls were blue painted bricks and the stair rail leading up to the second floor still gave off a new paint scent.

 

‘ _ This isn’t very far from my own building _ ,’ Naruto considered, raising a hand to rap sharply at the door. She didn’t have to wait long until it swung open, a bemused boy with messy dark hair and sleepy eyes staring back at her. ‘ _ He looks a lot like Shisui in the mornings. _ ’

 

This was only her second time visiting someone else’s home, so there was an unexpected shyness welling up as the blonde waved. “Hello.”

 

Sasuke Uchiha didn’t move away from the door. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Er… I wanted to see you?” Naruto guessed. That was a reasonable excuse to visit her ghostly friend’s massacre-survivor cousin, right? “Have you had breakfast yet?”

 

“No.” Sasuke’s voice was clipped but his body moved aside for her to slip in.  

 

Naruto took the invitation as a chance to look around. This was the home of a fellow orphan and her first impression was that Sasuke’s monthly check was much better than average. The empty walls, standard-issue furniture, and pale grey curtains were all cut to a higher standard than anything Naruto owned. It was almost too neat for a boy though, and, after the blonde pinpointed the source of her discomfort, entirely impersonal. No stray clothes, skewed mugs, worn patches of carpet, or carelessly slumped bags to denote ‘home’. 

 

‘ _ He doesn’t even wear slippers, _ ’ the Uzumaki noted. The wooden floorboards were likely cold this time of the day, but Sasuke Uchiha’s feet were bare. This was despite the battered-looking pair of fish-painted child slippers by the door. ‘ _ Is he avoiding reminders of his life before the attack? _ ’

 

“Anything else, Uzumaki?” The blonde’s eyes flicked upwards to look into irritated dark orbs. 

 

Rather than answer, Naruto observed the small table stubbornly fixed into the tiny kitchenette. The bowl of plain cereal was just sad. “You should have something more filling before class.”

 

Sasuke’s dark eyes flashed. “My breakfast is fine.”

 

“Aunt Mikoto always cooked for him at home,” Shisui murmured from beside her. “He can’t cook.”

 

It was more to remove the frown from Shisui’s face than to put a smile on Sasuke’s that the blonde headed to the kitchen. Ignoring the near-silent whine of protest, she looked through the poorly stocked containers and made her selection. “Okayu is easy enough to make in the mornings. Here, wash this cup of rice for me.”

 

Between complaints about her brazenly taking over his kitchen and demands that she stop riffling through his cabinets, Sasuke Uchiha was an attentive student. He followed all of her orders without protest and she could practically feel his eagerness to soak up this information and not be beholden to her for this again. He had an independence streak that reminded her of… well, herself.

 

Shisui moved around, accidentally making one or the other shiver now and then, and making more of a nuisance of himself than necessary. “You should teach him okonomiyaki and yakitori next. Something more light for lunch would be nice. Maybe tempera? But Sasuke’s never liked fish and I don’t think you know how to make tempura anyway. Ooh, add some ginger roots! Have you ever tried honey ginger okayu? It’s my favorite.”

 

Unaware of the soft smile on her face, Naruto set about cutting up some of the light brown roots.

 

She set a bowl of piping hot okayu in front of the dark-haired boy, shaking her head negative when he tried to serve her some. Some Jounin had made a valiant effort to stuff two chairs inside of the packed kitchenette but the blonde chose to perch on the counter instead. She ripped a page out of her notebook and took a pen out of her trusty backpack and proceeded to make a list. Leaning over her shoulder, his icy breath causing a tingling feeling at the base of her neck, Shisui helped her.

 

“You need to go shopping soon.” Naruto was pleased when the younger Uchiha accepted the grocery list without complaint. “Do you want to walk to school together?”

 

She was met with an uncomfortably assessing stare by a boy that was too suspicious for her own good. “Why are you doing this Uzumaki?”

 

“Doing what?” Maybe pretending ignorance would get her out of answering?

 

“ _ This.  _ Making me breakfast, visiting at the hospital, offering to go to school together. Why are you doing this?” Ah, well. It was a longshot anyway.

 

“Do you want me to stop?” The Uzumaki was surprised when she didn’t receive an immediate ‘yes’.

 

“Is it because of the money? Everything is held in trust until I’m a Tokubetsu Jounin at least.”

 

“You think I’m being nice to you because you’re  _ rich _ ?! Not very confident in yourself, are you?” The blonde paused when the Uchiha cringed and moderated her tone. “Can’t I just want to be friends?”

 

“...You’re not my fangirl. You don’t even look happy to see me most of the time.” Sasuke pointed out.

 

Now it was Naruto’s turn to cringe. She hadn’t known that she made her disapprobation so obvious. 

 

Unsure of how to answer, the blonde’s eyes moved to the source of her unexpected kindness to Sasuke. Hesitation was written all over Shisui’s face. Was he thinking about pressuring her to tell his cousin the truth? If so, then Naruto’s course of action was decided.

 

She was not going to share her most closely guarded secret with Sasuke Uchiha. Not a damn chance. 

 

“I used to be friends with Shisui Uchiha and I think he would want me to look out for his last living relative. I’m also an orphan and even though I can’t really relate to what you must be going through- and I hope to Kami, that no one else  _ can _ relate to this- I needed to learn how to survive without help. I can show you the ropes for basic things like cooking and paying utility bills.”

 

Sasuke mulled over this for a moment. “You were friends with Shisui-nii?”

 

‘ _ Shisui said that he used to be best friends with Itachi. Sasuke must have been familiar with him through that. _ ’ The blonde nodded, not unaware of the way the ghostly Uchiha smiled brightly at her when she indirectly confirmed their relationship. An emotion of amused happiness pooled in her stomach and then spread outward to make her chest feel warm.

 

“Do you want to walk to school together?” Naruto asked again.

 

Sasuke hesitated and, for a heartbeat, she considered pressing further but then a nod.

 

“Good. My apartment isn’t very far from here. Let me take a show really quick and I’ll be back,” Naruto said hastily. Dropping her backpack on the table- the Uchiha wouldn’t be able to leave before her if he knew that she would come back for her stuff- the blonde almost fled the room. She didn’t know how to react. For the longest time, it had only been her and Inu-oji against the world and now… and now, her entire world simply felt  _ different _ .

 

Though as Shisui’s ghostly form laughingly barrel-rolled through the door behind her, Naruto reflected that it wasn’t the worst feeling to have.

 

x

 

There were a few raised eyebrows and many more gaping mouths present when Naruto Uzumaki showed up at the Academy beside Sasuke Uchiha. Most could not believe that the strange pair had formed until they split to their separate classes and onlookers saw the blonde wave goodbye to the dark-haired boy, with the latter offering a polite nod in return. The blonde gamely ignored that her-  _ association? _ \- with Sasuke was bringing her something that she had tried to avoid since childhood. Namely attention.

 

‘ _ The Uchiha are born to be walking headaches _ ,’ Naruto merely sighed. ‘ _ This is all so troublesome. _ ’

 

A young Pineapple was abruptly woken from his nap with an inconvenient sneeze.  _ ‘Troublesome…’ _

 

Surprisingly enough, no one called her out on her unexpected walking partner. The first half of her day was fairly typical; Naruto did well on the quiz, relayed two answers from Shisui and answered one of Toshio-sensei’s questions on her own, and had a mini-lesson on samurai from her ghostly friend instead of whatever the rest of the class was studying. Then she was cornered by a group of preteen girls when she was going to eat lunch.

 

“Uzumaki-san!” The pert nose, too-wide eyes, and pretty smile of the brunette girl calling her was vaguely familiar and therefore, likely belonged to one of the ‘nice’ civilian girls in class that wasn’t allowed to play with her. “Hey, wait up for us!” 

 

Naruto’s body froze, eyes flitting around to find a viable escape route before they reached her. Unfortunately, she hesitated for too long because the lead girl came close enough to slide in front of her. A small cloud of dust rose from the narrow trench her heel dug into the soil. “Hi Naruto!”

 

“Hello?” The blonde warily held her bento closer to her chest. “Can I help you?”

 

“We were wondering if you’d like to have lunch with us?” Another girl asked hopefully, and Naruto could recognize this one.  _ Miyaki _ . She sat in front of her in the kunoichi-only lessons and had declared only yesterday that she was going to give her flower bouquet to Sasuke as a get-well gift. Which led to a shouting match between all of the other girls that wanted to give their flowers to Sasuke and created enough of a distraction for the blonde to steal all of the sunflowers. 

 

_ ‘They really brightened up my apartment. _ ’ She took another look at the half-dozen girls surrounding her and recognized that at least three of them were the Uchiha’s fangirls. Unknown to her, the Uzumaki was starting to get the same foreboding feeling her mother did after a certain blonde genius publicly asked her for a study date. ‘ _ Are… are they growing?! _ ’

 

Chihiro of the Constant Giggles had just joined and the group expanded briefly- like a gelatinous mass taking in a deep breath- before contracting her towards the center of the swarm. She wondered if Shisui was seeing the same disturbing image she was.

 

“You’re becoming a lot more popular, Naru-chan!” the teen beamed, “See, you just had to put yourself out there for all of these girls to try and become your friend.”

 

Shisui was an idiot.

 

“I appreciate the offer,” the blonde hedged. “But I was planning to study…”

 

“Hard work is an admirable quality to have, Uzumaki-san. I want to study with you!”

 

“I would like to study with Uzumaki-san also!”

 

“Don’t you usually play with those nasty boys, Uzumaki-san? Wouldn’t you rather hang with us?”

 

“You can study here. We’ll be quiet.”

 

“Do you study with Sasuke-kun?”

 

At the last question, the entire group fell silent and looked at Naruto with eerily similar gleams in their eyes. The blonde could feel sweat gathering on her brow. “Er… no?”

 

“No, you haven’t studied with him yet? Or no, you don’t plan to study with him?” Miyaki inquired. 

 

“I’m starting to think that they don’t want to be your friend, Naruto.”

 

“Er…” Just as the blonde was entertaining thoughts of ducking under her arm and scaling the tree behind the brunette, an unlikely savior arrived.

 

“Naruto-chan, there you are! I was looking for you,” Ino Yamanaka scolded, pushing her way through the group. She stood next to the Uzumaki and moved her gaze distastefully over the others. Naruto thought that she might have seen a brief hesitation when her eyes skipped past a rosette girl but Ino didn’t show any other emotions. “What are all of you doing?”

 

“We were just inviting Uzumaki-san to have lunch with us,” Miyaki answered, since it was her that those pale blue-grey eyes focused on. “Is there a problem?”

 

Platinum blonde hair was flipped back indifferently. “Yes. Naruto-chan agreed to have lunch with me.”

 

“She did?” A few girls echoed from behind her.

 

“I did?” Naruto mouthed noiselessly. 

 

Miyaki frowned. “We wanted to know-”

 

“I’ll get that information,” Ino huffed, “Obviously.”

 

“I see,” Miyaki’s too-wide eyes blinked innocently. “Do you want to go shopping after school?”

 

“No,” Ino said crossly, “I promised my Dad that I would practice our clan jutsu with him. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

 

Miyaki’s mouth twisted in dissatisfaction. “But-”

 

“I  _ said _ that I’ll talk to you  _ tomorrow _ ,” the Yamanaka stressed. 

 

Miyaki’s eyes slid over to her. Naruto tried to make her face look as innocent as possible. 

 

“Fine,” the girl sniffed, “I guess  _ we’ll _ get our answers  _ tomorrow _ .”

 

“Is it just me or were those two little girls having a full-fledged power play there?” Shisui murmured. 

 

When the last of the group had trickled away, the Yamanaka turned and offered her a grimace-smile. “Hey Naruto-chan.”

 

“What was that?” Still holding her bento box like a shield in front of her, the Uzumaki let the other blonde lead the way to a more secluded spot of trees. She exchanged a look of confusion with the ghostly Uchiha, unaware of the dark eyes that observed her from afar. 

 

“Miyaki’s older sister just married into the Inuzuka Clan.” Ino fussily brushed away the broken sticks and dirt from one of the larger rocks before carefully sitting down.

 

“...And that means?” Pale blue-grey eyes looked at her with affectionate amusement.

 

“You really don’t know, do you?” Ino mused, “Her older sister married into a shinobi clan with equal standing to the Yamanaka and she thinks that makes her  _ my  _ equal. Her grades aren’t as good as mine though, so she decided to make her play by leading the charge to question you. She probably thought she could get the answers before I finished my extra credit work for Iruka-sensei. Miyaki’s an  _ idiot _ .”

 

“Okay.” As a jinchuuriki, she had probably been the source of a power struggle before but this was the first time someone her own age decided to use her to advance their social position. More than anything else, this elicited amusement in the blonde. “And you’re supposed to figure out whether or not I like the Uchiha?”

 

Ino’s pale cheeks were splotched on by brickred blushes. Eyes the color of a foggy sky met the vivid ocean evenly. “Do you?”

 

Naruto thought that her friend’s question was deceptively casual. Paired with Ino’s confident nature, momentary pause when she saw the rosette girl, and habit of picking up strays, the Uzumaki was starting to paint together a picture. “I don’t know what girls see in that teme. I honestly think that it physically pains him to smile.”

 

“I- what?!” Ino’s mouth dropped open, “Are you talking about Sasuke-kun?”

 

“Not unless you know anyone else that wears shirts with ridiculous popped collars and slicks his hair into the duckbutt style.” Naruto studiously popped her bento open as her friend make a choking noise of either humor or outrage. “His cousin is-  _ was _ \- a friend of mine so I visited his hospital room.”

 

A near-solid wavering finger tapped the knuckle of left hand and Naruto bit back a smile. 

 

“Oh,” the Yamanaka sounded bemused, “So you don’t like him?”

 

“Not at all,” Naruto assured, “Why do you sound so surprised? Do you  _ want _ me to like him?”

 

“No!” Ino’s horror made her laugh out loud. “But- but- it’s Sasuke-kun! Why don’t you like him?!”

 

“Why do you like him?” The Uzumaki was genuinely curious.

 

“Because he’s  _ Sasuke-kun _ ,” Ino said, as if that should explain everything. At her frown, she elaborated. “He’s the strongest boy in class and a good student. He pays attention to Iruka-sensei, does all of the homework- even the worksheets from when he was in the hospital- and knows a lot of cool shinobi tricks.”

 

Naruto nodded in understanding. “You like him because he’s a nerd.”

 

“He’s not a nerd but he  _ is  _ very smart,” Ino smiled dreamily, “He’s so cute and mysterious and tragic. He’s the kind of hero that you would want to jump in, beat the bad guys, and save the princess.”

 

“Okkaaayy,” Naruto drawled out, “There’s just one problem with that, Ino. How are you ranked in class?”

 

“Er… first?” 

 

“Higher than the teme?”

 

Ino wrinkled her nose. “Higher than  _ Sasuke-kun _ , yes.”

 

“So why can’t  _ you _ beat the bad guys?” 

 

“Ah… well… I guess,” The Yamanaka looked unsure, “I can beat the bad guys and then… fall under a rock maybe? So he could save me there?”

 

“...I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” The Uzumaki rolled her eyes. “Any other reasons?”

 

Ino pouted. “He’s cute!”

 

Naruto very deliberately did not look at the bored visage of a rather handsome Uchiha in an ANBU-issued vest. “I’ve seen better.”

 

“Oh shut up, Naruto-chan,” Ino grinned. The rest of lunch proceeded in a similar manner from there. 

 

x

 

“I’m telling you, I need that information for a class project!” Naruto glared vehemently at the teen girl sitting in the Konoha Civilian Registrar. The girl glared back, refusing to relinquish the key in her hand. 

 

Beside her, Shisui’s glower was unnoticed. “Maybe we should leave for now and sneak in later?”

 

_ ‘I did not come all the way here to the let some random, self-important teen prevent me from learning about my family!’  _ Naruto’s blue eyes narrowed. “Are you going to let me in or do I have to file a report about the terrible service you have here?”

 

“As if I’m going to believe that a ninja academy cares about personal civilian matters,” the girl said condescendingly, leaning closer, “Listen kid, I’ve heard of your reputation and if you think I’m going to let you into this office to prank me-”

 

“Naruto?” For the second time today, the arrival of a new friend served as a diffusion of her temper. Pineapple’s slouched form looked from the scowling teen to the tired blonde with keen eyes. “Were you able to get the materials for our project?”  

 

_ ‘Is he really…?’ _ Naruto faked an irritated expression. “No! She won’t let me in.”

 

Pineapple raised a single eyebrow in a gesture that was undeniably cool, even when his overall impression was that of a sleep-deprived, sickly slacker. “Why not?”

 

“You actually need these records for your project?” The teen was hesitating, possibly due to Pineapple’s distinct Nara Clan features.

 

“Iruka-sensei gave different projects to each team. Our one is supposed to catalogue the demographics of the village in the last… how many years was it, Naruto?” 

 

“For the last 60 years.” The blonde bit into her lip. Pineapple wouldn’t come with her, would he?

 

“For the last 60 years,” the boy echoed, his posture straightening, “Can we go in now?”

 

The teen still eyed her distrustfully. “If she damages  _ anything _ …”

 

“I’ll make sure that she won’t.” Naruto didn’t know how Shikamaru could make those words sound so insulting towards the teen. 

 

The teen reluctantly used her key to open the records room and Naruto tailed after the lazy boy. She couldn’t resist tossing a smile at the irritating girl’s direction though.

 

Shisui was utterly resigned. “You have a Nara barnacle… Yay.”

 

“Thanks for the help,” the blonde whispered, “But you don’t have to be here. I can finish the rest by myself.”

 

“I don’t mind,” Pineapple shrugged, “I don’t have anything better to do.”

 

“He’s plotting something,” Shisui accused, “A Nara never takes initiative for anything!”

 

“Really, the research is going to be pretty boring,” Naruto urged, “I’m sure that you have better things to do.” She couldn’t have Shisui speed-read everything if he stayed.

 

“I really don’t,” the boy replied flatly, dashing her hopes. “Where do you want to start?”

 

“Er…” The Uzumaki didn’t look towards the ghostly presence in the room. “The marriage licenses from at least three decades back? I want to find a woman named Nagase Sayuri.”

 

The two kids went to work in front of a big filing cabinet for marriage licences. Each would take out a file, read through it quickly, and then return it to its place. The only organization seemed to be by year, so she couldn’t narrow it down to any particular surnames. Sitting beside her, leg barely brushing against her own, Pineapple read through the files at almost thrice her speed.

 

_ ‘Shisui could read them even faster,’ _ Naruto sighed. Her body felt like it was on pinpricks; she was acutely aware of the blank spot in her awareness that could be associated with ghostly energy. The blonde had to force her nerves not to give her away. ‘ _ I should have just left and broken in later. _ ’

 

The cramped letters recording the marriage of two unrecognizable individuals were in her hand, when she noticed that Pineapple had stopped flipping through the pages. She looked over. “Did you find it?”

 

“Yes.” Though Pineapple’s voice was calm, Naruto got the feeling that her sort-of friend was gazing at her even more intently than before.

 

_ ‘Does he suspect my secret…? _ ’  Unnerved, the blonde looked down into a face that was a near-perfect copy of her own. Nagase Sayuri’s tranquil smile was an inch or two below the beaming face of a tall, slim man with dark blonde hair and grey eyes. Her grandfather. She read the top inscription.

 

_ This certificate signifies the lawful wedlock of Namikaze Arashi and Nagase Sayuri on the day of…  _

 

“Namikaze…” she whispered. Her stomach was lurching. Her stomach was lurching and she was going to be sick. Oh, Kami, Kami, Kami, her father was… “Minato Namikaze.”

 

“What?” Shisui bent over her. The unnatural cold of ghostly movement brushed over her shoulder. Familiar. Calm. She was going to be sick. “Oh, damn.”

 

“Naruto?” There was another hand on her shoulder. Warm, smaller than Shisui’s, unfamiliar enough that she almost recoiled before she recognized that Pineapple was facing her. “Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” Naruto scrambled backwards. She jerked her shoulder away from the boy, unaware of the flicker of hurt there, and towards her ghostly friend. “I- I need to go. Thank you.”

 

“Put the paper in your pocket,” the Uchiha whispered behind her. Jerkily, she followed his orders. “Ask the Nara to keep this secret.”

 

“I- you can’t tell anyone,” Naruto blurted out. 

 

Pineapple raised a brow. It was much less cool now. “There’s nothing to tell. You have a project on the history of the Hokages and you wanted to be thorough in your research.”

 

Near solid, wavering hands pressing onto her shoulders and the blonde shivered. “We should leave.”

 

Naruto obeyed. Not for the first time today, dark eyes followed her progress out the door.

 

_ ‘She’s so troublesome…’  _

 

x

 

After a morning of spying on the Ne and inadvertently tormenting Danzo, Sakumo had intended to spend an hour or two looking after his son. Kakashi had made progress since the Kyuubi Attack, even agreeing to step down from ANBU after nearly a decade in continued service. The elite organization demanded so much of its members, physically and emotionally, that most of the recruits served in two or three year terms. Kakashi, who took a continuous stream of challenging A-rank or S-rank missions after the attack, retired as the longest-serving member in the group’s history.

 

For that, Sakumo was torn between extraordinary pride and acute pain. His son had far surpassed his own shinobi career and single-handedly removed the disgrace to the Hatake name, for which he was unashamedly proud. For all of the painful events that broke Kakashi down and gave him the drive to do this, especially his own cowardly actions, Sakumo felt more shame than he could ever express.

 

Kakashi had grown up to be a good man, though the credit for that belonged to Minato Namikaze and Obito Uchiha. His son was honouring the second one now, as he sat before the memorial stone. Sakumo had focused his eyes roughly a half-meter above a shock of silver hair- Kakashi was skilled enough a shinobi to sense his stare otherwise- when he heard his name called.

 

“Sakumo! I found you,” Shisui panted, body speeding over to him. The white-haired man stared. Was the boy  _ flying? _

 

He stood up. “ _ What’s wrong? _ ”

 

“We found out who Naruto’s father was and well, er,” the Uchiha’s hands waved erratically in the air, “She didn’t take it well.”

 

_ “Minato Namikaze. _ ” Sakumo didn’t think ghosts were physically capable of feeling temperature, so the coldness around his chest must be attributed to an emotional reaction.

 

“Yes,” Shisui blurted, “You knew?”

 

_ “I guessed, _ ” the older man corrected. “ _ We should go _ .”

 

Shisui Uchiha didn’t continue the conversation but the deceased shinobi could feel the teen’s questioning gaze on his back as they hurried home. Huh, it was strange to suddenly realize that the tiny, cheap apartment had become home to him. When the silver-haired man slipped through the door, it wasn’t to angry tears and thrown glassware like he half-expected, but utter silence.

 

“She’s in her room,” Shisui quickly offered, making an abortive movement towards the cheerful orange-painted door. “Should I…?”

 

_ “I would like to have a few minutes alone with her please,” _ Sakumo requested, “ _ Thank you for alerting me to the problem.” _

 

“Uh, sure,” the teen rubbed the back of his neck, “I’ll- er, wait here, I guess.”

 

When he stepped through that door, it was to a bundle of blankets piled into the bed. Floating closer showed a shock of yellow poking out and then brilliant, familiar blue eyes staring towards her.

 

“Did you know that he was my father?” Naruto asked.

 

_ ‘Do you know how much it pains Kakashi when you shut him out like this?’ Minato demanded. _

 

“I guessed,” Sakumo crouched down until only one pair of accusing blue eyes could hold his attention. “I -- thought -- it would -- be him.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

‘ _ Why don’t you do anything about it then? _ ’

 

“I wasn’t -- sure.” Sakumo didn’t even know if that could be true anymore, with those blazingly familiar eyes staring back at him. “I didn’t -- want to bring -- your hopes up.”

 

“You should have told me. I deserved to know.”

 

_ ‘You should speak to him. He deserves to spend time with his father.’ _

 

“I was -- scared,” Sakumo whispered. 

 

“Why would you be scared?” The head moved up a little more, her torso pulling out.

 

_ ‘Don’t be a coward. It’s never too late to fix things with your son.’ _

 

“I didn’t -- want you to -- stop caring -- about me when -- you knew,” the silver-haired man admitted. “You -- would have -- a real father -- and not -- a ghostly substitute.”

 

“Silly Oji-san.” Her voice was still thick when legs swung to the floor. Her warm, small hand hovered imperceptibly over his own. “You were always there for me.”

 

_ ‘Sakumo, you fool! You’re dying now…’  _

 

“He’s a good -- man,” the older man said, “He took -- care of Kakashi -- when I couldn’t. Told -- him about -- me. Now -- I’m watching -- over his own -- daughter.”

 

“I know,” The girl blinked and blue eyes were covered by a sheen of water, “But he’s also the reason I’m a jinchuuriki.”

 

_ ‘I know that not everyone agrees with me but I think that your sacrifice made you a hero.’ _

 

“Kyuubi -- would have killed -- everyone, if -- there was -- no jinchuuriki,” Sakumo stated plainly, “He was -- the Hokage. There -- is no one else -- he could ask for -- a sacrifice that he -- wouldn’t make.”

 

“I know,” Naruto repeated, head falling forward. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. “I know.”

 

x


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

 

The next day after the revelation of her father’s identity was a strange one for Naruto. Her ghostly tutor kept sending her anxious glances as though he expected her to have a breakdown any minute. Her Oji-san oscillated between hovering protectively around her and being even more aloof than usual. Pineapple started hanging around his friend, ‘Uzumaki’, every lunch period, even sleeping next to her rock on the occasions that Ino insisted they have lunch together. It was all awkward enough for Naruto to be reduced to  _ wanting _ to spend time with the teme.

 

“So, I was wondering where you sneak off to during lunch,” the blonde began casually.

 

“Why?” The boy looked up from another breakfast food that she had taught him to cook- okonomiyaki. Their morning breakfasts had quickly become communal when the Uchiha realized that he could pick her brain on tips for daily living and accelerated classes and she realized that his cooking talent surpassed her own. 

 

“I thought we could maybe eat together?” 

 

“No.” 

 

Still, Naruto persevered and her world returned to a slightly off-kilter shade of normal. She tried not to think too much about the marriage certificate taped hidden under the top of her desk. She was the daughter of Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, the Yondaime Hokage, and the only man in history to receive an SSS Classification for  _ Flee on Sight _ . He was a dutiful ninja to have sacrificed his only child to the hard life of a jinchuuriki. He was a charismatic man to have become Hokage at the young age of twenty-one. He was a loyal friend to have practically raised Oji-san’s son and, despite her own reservations, Naruto wondered what type of father he would have become.

 

A loving one, Oji-san insisted. Minato Namikaze was an only child that had always wanted a large family of his own. He would have been a dedicated father. She would have to take his word on it of course, since the man in question went and got himself killed off before Naruto could be any judge to his parenting skills.

 

_ ‘You’re becoming bitter again,’ _ the blonde reminded herself tiredly. Her sigh drew the attention of worried ink-toned eyes. ‘ _ And worrying Shisui. _ ’

 

The Uchiha’s mothering was kind of cute, in an off-puttingly smothering way. To reassure him, she tapped out a question on the wooden desk. Their lip-reading sessions had moved on to hand signals and sound-based codes. 

 

“Ah, well Iron Country is one of the few nations to exist without a daimyo. There’s an interesting history behind that, actually, when Morifune, the first Leader of the Hauraki Order brought his followers to…” Her reading speed was decent now too, though she preferred Shisui’s personal lessons.

 

Along with information on why all of the nobles in Iron Country were executed for treason, the dark-haired teen helped her improve a number of her skills. Most of her mornings were spent on conditioning or basic taijutsu forms, followed by breakfast at the teme’s apartment, personal tutoring during school with intermittent breaks where she answered Toshio-sensei’s questions, and spending time with her friends at lunch. She had to use the Academy taijutsu style because Shisui’s one would draw undue attention and wouldn’t work with her limited reach and strength anyway.

 

The second half of the day continued her personal tutoring, a single bowl of ramen at Ichiraku, and then either researching at the library or working on her chakra control near the Naka River. Naruto had progressed to water-walking now, which meant that she would often have to bring a second set of clothes with her. The blonde personally detested this exercise; not only would she end up cold and wet but Shisui got to tease her about her ‘assets’… or lack thereof. 

 

It took almost a week of snapping back to his taunts for them to stop stinging her. Naruto finally resolved to ignore anything that he said, and eventually, the teen stopped. Unknown to her, the Uchiha mentally congratulated himself on removing one of the biggest issues to plague preteen kunoichi- their body image.

 

She would come home shivering and exhausted but eating a simple meal curled up in bed, while sharing her day with Oji-san often made it better. Shisui would drag her out an hour later for homework, which was the start of a new round of bickering that often dissolved into laughter and well-written,  _ completed _ assignments. With the exception of ninjutsu and genjutsu, Naruto’s scores had risen to mid-level over the board.

 

“This is  _ never  _ going to work for me.” At her feet, were three sickly-looking Naruto copies.

 

“You’ll pass the year without the Bunshin,” Shisui assured, “At least none of them are dead yet.”

 

“This one looks like it’ll keel over any second now.” Her sentence had barely finished when it faded away. “Screw it. I’m going back to my seals.”

 

It was disappointing for the blonde to know that all of her effort still wouldn’t result in a working Bunshin. Sure, it wasn’t  _ necessary _ but the next fall class test was two months away and she had wanted to master all three basic jutsu beforehand. She also wanted to learn how to spit out fire but Shisui shot those ideas down to until she mastered her primary affinity.

 

“The Katon affinity is dangerous, Naruto,” the Uchiha’s face was unexpectedly serious, “Unlike the other elements, fire’s sole purpose is to  _ consume _ the world around it. The flames will harm you unless you can insulate your body against them and without an affinity, you’ll have to do so through advanced chakra control. The best way to develop that control is to master the wind affinity that you  _ do _ have and I promise that we can start on that as soon as you master the water-walking jutsu.”

 

Easier said than done. He wasn’t the one whose face got smacked with a carp’s tail yesterday.

 

Fuuinjutsu was a far more appealing use of her time, possibly because her father was a seal master and her mother came from a clan famous for producing seal masters. The introductory fuuinjutsu manual that the Old Man had given her had few practical examples but it did cover a lot of the theory, including an overview of seal classes. 

 

Level 1 seals were the ones most commonly used by shinobi and they were merely simple ink-and-paper works infused with chakra. Anyone with a steady hand and a decent eye could copy them down, so they had widespread use and included types like flash tags and explosive tags.  

 

Level 2 seals were also one-dimensional works but contained multiple parameters and had a limited shelf life, since they deteriorated upon contact with chakra and yet needed a constant stream of chakra to be effective. These seals were also the first level to use the condensed form; mainly taking entire passages of ink and enclosing them within one symbol or character. This was the reason that seals appeared deceptively simple; the inner workings of those symbols were only revealed by covering fingers with chakra, applying them on the mark, and stretching the ink out to a pocket space of intricate chakra shapes. They took talent to make but any dedicated and studious individual could pull them off.

 

Level 3 to Level 5 seals were the reason that the Uzumaki Clan were so terrifying to the rest of the world. They were multi-dimensional arrays that needed the sealer to ink out the passages in the physical world, while simultaneously maintaining anywhere from one to three additional spheres of yin or yang energy to ink out complementary symbols in the metaphysical world. Unseen to everyone but the creator (and a Hyuuga, since they could ‘see’ chakra) would be seals that would finally combine with the ones in the physical realm to complete the final result. It was as much an art as it was a science, since the results could be easily changed by an interpretation of a nuance of a word. 

 

Other seals could be copied, stolen, or written by anyone if they were willing to put the effort into it. However, Level 3 to 5 seals, denoted by the amount of additional dimensions of chakra employed, were almost impossible to replicate without step-by-step instructions on each dimension written out explicitly by the creator himself. Moreover, these seals couldn’t be written by just anyone; they required attributes that a relatively tiny portion of the population would ever have.

 

That was why the Uzumaki Clan was so feared. Unlike the other clans, they could reliably produce members with the parallel streams of thinking, chakra sensory ability, innate creativity, and deductive, abstract mindset to pull these seals off. The first trait easily outstripped the others; while the others could be taught, most people simply couldn’t force themselves into a sense of scatterbrained control. This was also the reason why a lot of Uzumaki had outlandish personalities; it was an unconscious self-defense mechanism against compartmentalizing themselves into a box of characteristics employed by the situation needed.

 

So far, Naruto hadn’t seen any Level 2 or above seals but she could recognize that the traits were present in herself. And she paradoxically wanted to make Minato Namikaze proud without having to acknowledge that he was her father at all.

 

“I want to activate a seal today,” the blonde declared, opening up the topmost folder on her desk. Under glossy orange plastic covered by stickers of ramen and kittens- the latter being a shameless demand from a sixteen-year-old boy- were almost two dozen explosive tags. None of them were primed with chakra but they were the result of hours and hours of diligently practicing her writing until she could sketch out a basic energy release function without thought.

 

“Are you sure?” Despite the cautious words, the Uchiha’s eyes gleamed at the sight. He was even more eager to develop her fuuinjutsu skills than she was.

 

“If you’d rather wait for your Sharingan to develop by itself…”

 

“You sound sure to me,” Shisui said hurriedly, “Let’s go.” 

 

She didn’t quite manage to hide her smile, as she jumped to her feet, leading him to poke one cold not-quite-water limb through her body. The blonde shuddered a bit but shrugged into a dark orange peacock coat- Ino was a shopping goddess and no one could convince her otherwise- anyway. She had a matching peaked cap too, in black sadly with an orange braided design across the front, that made her look rather like a detective or officer in full dress. “Let me leave a note for Oji-san.”

 

He would undoubtedly disapprove of their choice to set off explosions- that Naruto had full intention of blaming on Shisui because, really, one of them was an almost-adult here and it wasn’t her- so ideally they’d be done before he came back from his daily stalking. Sakumo had mentioned that his son had a mission a few days ago, so it would probably be the creepy old guy with all the bandages this time. The silver-haired man only ever left because he was under the assumption that Naruto could be babysitted by a responsible shinobi. 

 

_ ‘Not that I  _ need _ a babysitter, _ ’ Naruto thought grumpily. ‘ _ Still, joke’s on Oji-san because Shisui’s even less responsible than I am.’ _

 

With the ghost floating along the way, the two made a companionable walk around the lesser-used side streets of her apartment to head into the forest. The village walls extended back several meters from the streets proper, allowing multiple nexus points where the forest spilled into the city and resulting in plenty of open, free space that was designated for training grounds. Naruto wouldn’t be going to one of the more convenient ones closer to the village, as those were reserved for active personnel, but there were decent training areas on the outskirts of Konoha too. The one that she eventually settled on was near the left quadrant of the village, an open clearing surrounded on three ends by forestry and by one thankfully small river. There were many such rivers, streams, ponds and even lakes dotting the village, making Water the second most common chakra affinity here. Either that, or the Nidaime had been given too much free reign in designing the village. There was plenty of speculation but Naruto hadn’t settled on the answer yet. 

 

The clearing was wide, beautiful, full of sunlight and a refreshing layer of green grass. Naruto took a moment to admire it and then pulled out one of her sealing tags. Time to make things go boom.

 

“Tie it around twice and you can use the shrapnel as a secondary attack.” Shisui sat down readily beside her, as she wrapped the delicate rice paper around the kunai. “50cc should be enough now.”

 

Chakra configurator was the sole parameter used in local explosion seals from the minimum amount held, 5cc for a tiny firework that blew out a door handle, to the max range of 2600cc. The latter needed special chakra paper, so it wouldn’t fizz out when she pumped in enough to chakra to power it but 50cc worked on any material and made a fist-sized fireball. Naruto didn’t have the best of control, so she knew a fair bit of chakra was wasted, but she poured in enough to have the array light up and then tossed it over the river. One meter, two and then…

 

_ Boom!  _ In a flare of red-orange-gold and a sound akin to paper loudly crumpling, the tag lit off. 

 

Naruto whooped. “Did you see that? It worked!”

 

“Woohoo!” Shisui cheered along, the glint of a pyromaniac or any average Uchiha present in his eye. “Do it again! 100cc!”

 

_ Boom!  _ This one made it a litter further than the last, hitting a moss-covered rock, setting it aflame and then dying out when it reached the water. There were ripples in the river as some of the aquatic life there moved around in a frenzy, trying to escape the source of the disturbance.

 

“Aim for the fish, Naruto!” With Shisui egging her on, Naruto threw another four tags, each one working perfectly, though they were of limited effect to the fish swimming under the water. The fifth one had a bit of a lag- she must not have made the lines as distinct as they needed to be- but the sixth almost burned down a bush before dying out itself.

 

“Careful with your aim there, Naru-chan,” Shisui looked gleeful. “You know, wind-natured chakra can make kunai faster  _ and _ sharper, right?”

 

Her own vibrant blue orbs sparkled at the thought. “I can’t channel wind chakra yet.”

 

“It’s not as effective, sure but since you already  _ have _ wind-laced chakra in your system, you can coat your kunai with some.” 

 

“That sounds like a bad idea,” she said aloud. ‘ _ That sounds like the most kickass idea ever. _ ’

 

“We don’t have to put a sealing tag on it. You can throw the kunai and track how far it flew.”

 

Naruto mused over this for a second and no longer. She already knew that she wanted to do it after all. “Fine, but if anything goes wrong, I’m telling Oji-san that it was your idea.”

 

Before this could inspire better sense in the Uchiha, the Uzumaki swiftly unravelled the sealing tag from her latest kunai, used a Rat hand seal to channel some chakra forward and then poured it into the metal. Unlike with her sealing tags, there was some resistance here that surprised her at first, and then the metal  _ wavered _ in the air, growing indistinct a little as wind and chakra blurred around it, crumpling the tip forward. ‘ _ Now to see how far this can go.’ _

 

Naruto drew her arm back, kunai tip forward, and then with all of the strength in her arm _ , threw.  _

 

Turned out that it could go pretty far.

 

“Ah.” Shisui and she voiced the same reaction as the kunai flew with straight precision past the river, past the first line of trees,  _ through _ a mid-sized tree branch and past their line of sight. “Wow.”

 

“On a completely related note,” Shisui said, after they were done gazing at the spot where the kunai had disappeared. “You should look into mid-range shurikenjutsu at some point, Naruto.”

 

“Noted,” she said dumbly, a bloom of awe and triumph starting at her chest and then ballooning outwards rapidly. She did that.  _ She _ did that. Naruto knew that she was growing stronger, that the dark-haired ghostly figure by her side had taught her all manner of useful tricks and knowledge but still…  _ she _ accomplished that. Shisui had said that wind chakra made her effective at mid-range combat but if she could master the skill, her ability would be devastating in the battlefield.

 

Can’t defend against something that moves faster than your eyes can see after all.

 

“Come on! I want to see how far the kunai landed!” Naruto hurriedly stuffed the sealing tags back into her pouch, careful to put them into the chakra-proof, water-proof leather casing meant to prevent accidental seal discharges, before jumping atop of the water. “Bet it’s fifty meters, easy!”

 

_ ‘Left foot, right foot, left foot, right-’  _ She still needed to be slow and steady as she crossed the moving water but as soon as she was on the other side, Naruto broke into a jog. Shisui flew ahead of her, leading her through the right path, though that was easier done than she’d thought it might be. Her kunai had left signs of its presence along the way and she was quite proud of the skinned trees and fallen branches in her path.

 

The journey was easily over fifty meters, less than eight perhaps, certainly more than seventy when she broke past two more tree lines and three clearings, to find her kunai stuck in a berry bush. It was stained with a viscous blue liquid that, when sniffed, revealed itself to be blueberry juice. As she held it up to the light, Naruto also found that the metal had been twisted and folded into itself, no longer the sharp quadrahedron that her weapon was supposed to be.

 

“Why does it look like that?” Naruto was disappointed. Kunai and shuriken may have been the standard shinobi weapon and bought in bulk purchases but they could still add up fairly quick. 

 

When no answer was forthcoming, she looked up curiously. “Shisui?”

 

The dark-haired teen was standing still, for once not floating but with feet rested approximately on the ground and his translucent face appearing rather dazed. At first it looked as though he hadn’t heard her but then the Uchiha shook his head, almost like he was shaking off cobwebs on his body, and then turned an apologetic smile over to her.

 

“Most metals can’t withstand chakra absorption,” he explained, “The ones that can are specially made by the blacksmiths and on the expensive side.”

 

“So… still a few years until I can skewer my enemies with a hailstorm of kunai?”

 

“Afraid so,” Shisui laughed. There was something off about that sound, a nervousness she wouldn’t have attributed to the confident shinobi. 

 

“Shisui?” Naruto asked again, stepping closer. “Is everything okay?”

 

“I-” The teen looked past her, into the trees in front of them and shook his head. “Naruto, do you sense anything unusual about this place?”

 

“No.” There was something there though, a heaviness in the air and a niggling feeling in the back of her head that hadn’t been fully noticeable to her until the teen pointed it out. The blonde shuddered. “Maybe we should leave.”

 

“Not yet. There’s something ahead, I think,” Shisui drifted forward. “I want to check it out.”

 

Wide-eyed, unhappy but most certainly not abandoning her friend, the Uzumaki followed. She walked straight through his body, a fissure of ice cold water cloaking her entire self and making her shiver despite the warm autumn heat of Fire Country, before stopping. “Aren’t you coming?”

 

“If there’s something strange there, then I don’t want you to come with me,” Shisui explained, “It could be dangerous.”

 

Naruto’s eyes narrowed. “I can fight.”

 

_ “I _ can’t be harmed.”

 

_ ‘Reasonable enough point, _ ’ she acknowledged. At the same time… ‘ _ There’s something familiar about this place that tells me to stay. I don’t know why… even if it’s creepy, I won’t be hurt here. _ ’

 

“I’m staying,” Naruto stated firmly. She didn’t know if it was her tone or expression but the dark-haired teen didn’t argue any further, even if he did insist that she stay by the treeline and only come forward when he told her it was safe to do so. The blonde reluctantly obeyed. 

 

After a few minutes of scouting, wherein Naruto shifted uneasily from foot to foot and held a kunai in an almost painfully tight grip, Shisui came back. He looked puzzled. “It’s a shrine.”

 

Naruto paled further. “A shrine? We can’t go there!”

 

“Why not?” 

 

“Shrines have dead people buried in them!” Naruto looked around briefly, as though said spirits had been summoned by her own words and then lowered her voice. “What if there are  _ ghosts _ there?”

 

The most deadpan expression in human existence crossed Shisui Uchiha’s face.

 

“You know what I mean!” Naruto blushed. She knew it was irrational but there were still trickles enough of her childhood fear that she stayed far, far away from hospitals, graveyards and shrines, despite her unique ability. “Ghosts that aren’t like you.”

 

“It’s an Uzumaki shrine,” Shisui told her, adding to her disbelief, “No, I saw the symbol on the temple myself. It’s old and rundown but it has your clan’s spiral in the front.”

 

_ ‘It’s a shrine, _ ’ one aspect of Naruto’s mind insisted, followed by another one clamoring  _ ‘Uzumaki, Uzumaki, Uzumaki.’ _

 

_ ‘You can’t go into the shrine. You hate them. They scare you.’ _

 

_ ‘Shisui will be there and it’s an Uzumaki shrine. You have to pay your respects to your dead family.’ _

 

_ ‘How? You don’t have any candles or incense with you and your parents probably aren’t buried there anyway.’ _

 

_ ‘You could see a ghost.’ _

 

_ ‘You don’t want to see a ghost.’ _

 

_ ‘Yes, you do. It could be an Uzumaki ghost.’ _

 

“I do need sealing lessons,” Naruto mumbled under breath, fantasizing briefly about men and women with red hair, violet eyes and the spiral symbol on their clothing. “Okay, Shisui-kun, let’s go.”

 

The blonde girl marched forward, leaving behind a ghostly companion wondering exactly what went through the head of the crazy girl he’d become surprisingly attached to.  _ ‘Uzumaki…’ _

 

x


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

 

Naruto didn’t know whether to be disappointed or not when there weren’t any ghosts to be found in the Uzumaki Masked Storage Temple. 

 

After a side glance at Shisui, who had been quite kind and helpful to her during their short friendship, she settled on disappointment. Not all ghosts were frightful figures and she would have quite liked to meet another Uzumaki. “This shrine is a lot bigger than I thought it would be.”

 

“Judging from the architectural style, it’s a Main Shrine dating back to the founding of the village,” Shisui supplied, looking around with fascination. “There must have been plenty of Uzumaki in Konoha in those days and they would have been responsible for the upkeep of the temple. As it is now…”

 

“No one’s been around to clean it up or make repairs,” the blonde surmised. “My ancestor’s graves have been neglected for Kami knows how long and Konoha hasn’t done anything about it?” 

 

Shisui held his hands up in a gesture of calm. “In all fairness, it’s not the village’s responsibility to maintain clan heritage sites.”

 

“The Uzumaki helped found the village.” Naruto crossed her arms. “They could have assigned a groundskeeper or sent a genin team every now and then or  _ something _ .”

 

“While it would have been considerate for them to do so, there was at least one Uzumaki adult available before you were born,” the Uchiha pointed out. “Your mother.”

 

This drew the Uzumaki up short and she was left to consider the words as they walked the temple’s extensive grounds. Naruto didn’t really know anything about her mother, other than the fact that she was an Uzumaki and married the Yondaime Hokage. This was two facts more than she’d had before meeting Shisui and something that she appreciated, even if it also led to moments like this. Like many orphans, Naruto venerated the parents that she  _ could  _ have had and wanted to attribute the best qualities to them. However, it was becoming more and more clear that while her parents- or father, at least- had been shinobi of merit, that didn’t make them necessarily perfect people. They had their positive and negative traits, most of which she did not know, and a history that didn’t involve her. There were childhoods, experiences, friendships, hardships, and triumphs that shaped them into the people they were and Naruto didn’t have the context to understand that character, nor, honestly, much knowledge of their character at all. 

 

Even without context, she couldn’t help but think that it was irresponsible of her mother to allow the temple to decay to this level.

 

It was a beautiful estate nonetheless, if one fallen to the hardships of time. There was a walkway from the forest made of dusty white stones etched in faded marks leading directly to the main building. A light fog misted the overgrown grass in a blanket of dewdrops and partially obscured bramble hedges filled to bursting with ripe red and blue berries. The sunlight that broke through here gilded mist silver and berries in ruby and sapphire hues. The building that approached was massive, a grand affair made of sturdy oak wood, teal-stained copper fixtures and corroded iron. The stairs that led up to the door had been built well and remained firm even after all this time. As they walked into the building, Naruto tilted her chin up and admired the Uzumaki Clan Sigil crookedly hanging from the front.

 

_ ‘I can dust and mop, paint the walls and pull the weeds, _ ’ the blonde decided, ‘ _ But I’ll have to hire someone else to do the carpentry work.’ _

 

“Shisui, how much does it cost to hire a genin team for a D-rank mission?”

 

The Uchiha named an estimate and the blonde winced. That would be half of her savings altogether.

 

The inside of the Temple was thankfully in better shape than the outside, even if the floorboards creaked ominously under her feet. There were white sheets hung on the ceiling and descending partially downwards that were moth-eaten and threadbare, as well as a faded, dirty shade of grey. The fire motifs on the wall were chipped off and the thick black stone had cracks on it. Naruto would need to budget more ryo for a stonemason down the line and-

 

“Oh!” A startled gasp escaped her as the blonde beheld the massive windows on the other end of the temple. They weren’t covered by glass, allowing all manner of debris and leaves to pile on the floor, and rain to wash in and rot the floorboards. However the view from the windows was incredible, sunlight splashing in and lighting the melancholy building into a mood of serenity and peace. Naruto hurried up to it, indifferent to the groans and moans of the wood beneath her, as she peered outside to overgrown dandelions and rows and rows of grave markers. “...My family. They’re all here.”

 

_ ‘Not all of them. Father would have been buried inside of the Monument with all of the other Hokages.’  _

 

As she was reminded of this tidbit of her lessons, the blue-eyed girl shook her head. It was… sad, that her father would be buried alone, without his wife or other family members nearby. In death, he would be as in life, all alone under the shadow of the hat he wore. At least the Shodaime and Nidaime had each other.

 

“Look over here, Naruto.” At her friend’s prompting, Naruto turned to the northeast facing wall, letting a startled shriek pass her mouth at the tidy rows of oni masks above the kimon (A/N: demon gate). 

 

“Oni yokai!” The blonde wailed, flailing her arms ineffectually as Shisui looked on in amusement, “Get away from there, Shisui! They’ll curse your soul!”

 

The dark-haired teen snickered. “They only curse the souls of the wicked and unjust, Naruto.”

 

“That’s why I’m telling you to get away!”

 

There was a brief moment of silence and then he floated over to ineffectually swat her head. “Brat!”

 

While it didn’t punish her as the Uchiha hoped, the sudden chill did break Naruto out of her stupor. She kept her eyes focused on the oni masks, throwing her shoulders back, even as her knees trembled and she tried to summon her courage. ‘ _ Get a hold of yourself, Naruto! You live with ghosts and hold a demon in your stomach for Kami’s sake!’  _

 

Shisui bent down and comfortably hovered his intangible form against her shoulder. “Boo.”

 

Naruto shrieked and jumped two feet into the air. 

 

“Shisui, you idiot!” 

 

“I regret nothing!” The ghostly boy jumped out of her reach and did that strange maneuver that was quickly gaining familiarity to her, where he leapt through the air, above the ground and yet appearing to move across a solid surface. Naruto chased behind him, fear burning swiftly within ire, as he seemed to taunt her by staying just out of reach when she knew him capable of moving much faster. His words didn’t exactly detract from the assumption. “Na-na-na-naaaa-na! You can’t catch me!”

 

“Get back here, Shisui!” He evaded her grasp and made an abrupt left turn, having to slide across the floor to avoid slipping through the wall. Naruto wasn’t as economical in her movements, tripping comically over her own feet, ocean blue eyes widened in horror, as she tried to halt her body’s momentum. Naruto failed and face-planted into the oni masks. “Oomph!”

 

There was a loud clatter as her body’s force shook the thin walls and dropped half a dozen masks on her body. The Uzumaki spent a second or two, dazed on the floor, breathing in the musty smell of the wood and the dust that… “Achoo!” 

 

Naruto lifted herself and used both hands to cover her nose. “Achoo! Shisui, I’m gonna- achoo!”

 

Distracted from his victory, the teen knelt down next to her and worriedly put hands, transparent, intangible, of icy cold water, on her shoulders. “Are you having an allergic reaction?”

 

She shook her head, rubbing at her nose harshly. ‘ _ I don’t have any allergies at all. Probably need to thank the Kyuubi for that too.’ _

 

Naruto was becoming more indebted to that giant furry foxball than she was strictly comfortable with. Not only was the Kyuubi partially responsible for her rapid healing and potent chakra reserves, though the Uzumaki heritage had contributed its bit, but the Shiki Fujin had been sealed by the Shinigami… it may even be responsible for her friends. “Idiot Shisui.”

 

She received an apologetic look for that, as well as a sheepish smile that softened Shisui’s handsome features and made him look more like the lighthearted boy he often was. “Sorry.”

 

The Uzumaki stuck her tongue out in response. Then she stood up, forlornly glanced at her dusty peacoat and started to pick up the oni masks. Most of them were shaped like human faces painted bone white but with additional and frightening aspects. They all had two curved horns and slitted eyes, occasionally sharp teeth, slanted brows and bumpy noses. All had hair as well, one even a mustache and while it  _ looked _ real, Naruto was far too disturbed to run her hand through and test that theory. There was something strange about them though, that she couldn’t quite put her finger on… 

 

“They’re in perfect condition,” Shisui murmured, “Everything else in this temple has decayed but the masks look brand new.”

 

_ ‘He’s right, _ ’ Naruto thought, finding the first curved hook on the wall, made possibly of yellowish bone, for her to hang the first mask. Despite the sunlight streaming through the room and the warmth of the day, she shivered. Shisui hovered closely beside her and she appreciated that as well. ‘ _ Are they even part of the original temple? _ ’

 

The blonde couldn’t imagine anyone sneaking in to hang up creepy masks within her ancestor’s temple but how else could they remain in such condition? It couldn’t be seals. There wasn’t any ink present.

 

There wasn’t any trouble hanging up the first four masks, even if the row of hooks well above her grasp meant that she wasn’t attending to those any time soon. It was the fifth one that gave her pause. The second her fingers brushed over it, an old man’s face with thick horns curved upwards, heavy brows, thin pupils, a snaggle-toothed grin and large ears, she froze. It felt as though an electric shock had run up her fingers and through her arm. A hiss of pain slid out past her clenched teeth but her hand refused to move. 

 

_ Darkness-Whirlpool-Hold-Child-Gift-Found-Promise-Kept-Will-Fire-Death-Rebirth-Falling-Demon- _

 

Naruto’s body had been plunged into the icy cold depths. Her entire viewscape fell into darkness. She was floating in the air, above anyone’s reach, looking down on body after body holding something to their face. A young man with crimson hair and fierce eyes covering his determination in an oni mask. This oni mask, again and again. Another man, hair streaked grey upon brownish-red and a trimmed beard, donning the mask. A woman this time, a long mane of red behind her like a dash of blood upon the snow she laid, bitterly smiling as she undertook the task. Another and another and another and- there was a shock of hair as yellow as her own, gentle blue eyes closing in acceptance as the mask was placed in his hand.

 

_ ‘Minato Namikaze, _ ’ her mind identified, _ ‘Father?’ _

 

As though the darkness knew of her inquiry, it lingered on the image and she drank it in, her  _ father _ , not in the still snapshot of a camera but a moving, breathing, living figure so close to her reach. All she had to do was grasp it, reach out her hand and-

 

_ “Naruto!” _

 

Shisui’s voice was frantic as he slapped the mask away from her hand. It flew across the floor, bouncing once and then clattering nearly at the other end of the hall. Naruto stared blankly across it as arms encircled her. They weren’t cold- Naruto had been so cold already- but warm, almost solid, more solid than she’d ever felt before. There was a hard, polished surface that felt a little like ANBU armor and thin links of metal pressing into her thighs- _ had someone pulled her into their lap?!- _

 

“Shisui?” Naruto blinked, looking up at dark eyes peering almost uncomfortably close to her own. She felt rather warm and safe at this moment but one facet still had to be questioned. “How are you touching me?”

 

x

 

When Sakumo Hatake stepped through the door to Naruto’s apartment, he was torn between a sense of wonder and disapproval. The latter was evident through the action taking place now, the former that Shisui was able to corrupt his little girl by these means at all. Because, sitting across from one another in the large circular rug laid on her bedroom floor, the two were deeply intent on a game of poker. Or at least Shisui was; Naruto looked politely bemused as she continued to rake in the wrapped peppermints that they were apparently using as chips.

 

“Agh!” With a strangled sound of frustration deep in his throat, Shisui tossed his cards to the floor. “How did you get four of a kind?! There shouldn’t even be a Diamond Jack there!  _ I already stole it!” _

 

Naruto, who had laid out her hand with four Jacks and a seven of spades, looked properly scandalized. “You mean you’ve been cheating all this time?”

 

“I had to!” Shisui slammed his hand against the floor, making a dull thud against the carpet. “That’s what you're  _ supposed _ to do in shinobi poker. But you’re not doing it all, as far as I can see, and somehow you still managed to win every round!”

 

The blonde perked up. “I won? Yatta! More candy for me~!”

 

“You don’t even know what the cards mean!” Shisui wept into his hands. 

 

“I would’ve if you’d  _ told _ me,” Naruto sniffed, raking in the rest of the sweets. She looked up, caught sight of Sakumo and then a handful of white cards fluttered out of her hand, as she scrambled to her feet. The white-haired man stood still in astonishment as sock-clad feet slid across the floor and she ran at him, arms open. “Inu-oji!”

 

_ ‘This isn’t going to end well,’ _ Sakumo concluded. His own shinobi training kept his features placid as the little girl predictably fell through his body, a convulsion shaking hers as her momentum brought her straight to the floor. 

 

“Oomph!” Sakumo turned around to see the Uzumaki swiftly straightening herself up, while using one hand to gingerly rub her nose. “Ow… not again.”

 

_ ‘Again?’  _ He turned suspicious eyes to the dark-haired teen that was freely snickering now. _ ‘What did those two get up to today?’ _

 

“Are you alright, Naruto?” 

 

“Yeah, Shisui, I’m fine.” Naruto looked perplexed. “Wonder why that didn’t work… oh! Maybe if I try it with the mask.”

 

Looking quite pleased with herself, the blonde neatly stepped around him and headed towards her bed, falling to her knees to look underneath. The Hatake turned a questioning eye on the former ANBU that he’d trusted to look after Naruto today- somehow, he was certain that an error in judgement had been made- but Shisui wasn’t looking at him. A soft smile was on his face as he watched the blonde dig out a truly hideous oni mask and then make a disgusted face before putting it on. Now, oni mask secure over her more adorable features, Naruto made for another hug. And this time she succeeded.

All the shock in the world couldn’t keep Sakumo from returning the embrace when a small, warm body struggled to wrap her arms around his waist. He was a father by nature. Kakashi had been a tall child and Naruto was a short one and…  _ ‘The first time I’ve been hugged in a long while.’ _

 

He took a moment to savour it, before turning another questioning look to the Uchiha. Shisui had turned his face away though, to give the other two some privacy for the moment. Sakumo resorted to gently tugging Naruto away instead, allowing her to take off and drop the oni mask, before slowly mouthing the question he was desperate to know. “How?”

 

The entire story spilled out in a mix of childish boastfulness and routine complaints over the Uchiha’s wrongdoings. There was also a dash of sheepishness as Naruto was fully aware that she shouldn’t have been out practicing seals without proper supervision. Technically, Shisui should have been supervision enough but Sakumo was swiftly amending that assumption with the teen.

 

‘ _ He hasn’t come to fully accept his death, _ ’ Sakumo acknowledged,  _ ‘Understandable, considering the elements of betrayal involved, from Danzo and his own kinsmen but compartmentalizing the event merely leads to an increase in risk tolerance. He’s purposefully immersing himself in juvenile behavior… is Naruto giving him an escape from contemplating his own end?’ _

 

Not that their current condition could be described thusly. They could still contemplate, communicate and carry out their will on the world around them, even if the means to do so were severely limited to one individual. It was akin to death though. They were tied to an in-between, Naruto remaining the sole point of interaction with the living for them and even there, she could merely watch and listen. And now, apparently, she could touch them.

 

“It doesn’t last for very long,” Shisui added, a sheepish expression of his own present. He had averted his eyes and the white-haired shinobi hoped this sign of guilt meant that he would amend his future actions. “Naruto and I did some experimenting before this.”

 

“Experimenting.” Never had Sakumo willed for a voice this strongly before as lip-reading alone couldn’t convey his sheer disapproval over this. 

 

“It wasn’t anything dangerous, Inu-oji,” Naruto diverted earnestly. Her ocean blue eyes were bright in expectation. She had done something well and expected praise from an adult-figure she liked and trusted for it. “Shisui said that the mask strengthened my powers and well, we couldn’t  _ leave _ it there for any of the genin to find it-”

 

“Naruto wants to hire a genin team to fix up the Uzumaki Temple,” Shisui inserted, filling in the blanks before Sakumo could follow that line of inquiry.

 

“Right! It’ll cost a lot of money but I think it’s worth it. Anyway we brought the mask here because it’s an Uzumaki family heirloom and _I’m_ the only Uzumaki in the village. That I know of anyway, if the others want it, than they can find me and ask! Not that I’d give it to them, after how broken down the temple was, my family’s so lazy, Inu-oji- but I took the mask home with me. Shisui made me wrap it in my jacket, which was all dusty because he’s _so_ _mean_ to me, but it kept the mask from giving me any weird dreams-”

 

“Naruto had a few visions of her other clansmen that wore this mask before her, as well as of Minato Namikaze, that likely used it shortly before his death.”

 

“Shisui thinks it might be related to my seal, cause it’s such a powerful artifact and all that, or maybe a secret Uzumaki bloodline because this is the first shrine I saw that didn’t have  _ any _ ghosts at all. Not even the ones that just walk around and don’t talk or do _ anything  _ and that I’m only ‘skimming the very top of my potential’. His words, not mine. The mask is connected to my powers somehow because when I touch it, my body gets cold but I’m able to  _ touch _ ghosts- or at least, Shisui and you. I couldn’t find any other ghosts nearby to practice it on.”

 

“Strangely enough, the route back to the apartment did appear to be deserted.”

 

“And people were able to  _ see _ Shisui! Sort-of. I think some of them knew something was there because their eyes kind of focused on his general area a bit but then looked away. It didn’t last for too long, so I had to touch the mask again-”

 

“The effect of tangibility was limited but touching the mask and then myself, appears to have renewed it. It’s lasted longer now than before.”

 

“Then we decided to test if anyone could hear Shisui, so he went over to an apartment two floors down. You know, the one with the crazy armadillo lady that makes those giant hamster tubes for her pets? The lady could definitely hear  _ something _ but it was probably more like whispery wind noises than words because Shisui complimented her work and she just hid behind her couch, even though she’d rattle on about her ‘art’ to Iwa missing-nin if she had the chance.”

 

“The obstacle course was honestly quite complex and the armadillo is very talented.”

 

“It’s weird and you know it. Anyway, after that, Shisui decided we’d play poker but he didn’t teach me any of the rules. I didn’t need them though. I’m so awesome that I won the games by accident!”

 

“One day, you and I are going on a personal vacation to Tanzaku Gai,” Shisui promised. He reached out a hand, ostensibly to ruffle the golden locks of the Uzumaki, but his fingers slid through her hair. “Naruto, would you mind…?”

 

“No problem!” And with a grin that was positively radiant in nature, the sunny-natured child plucked the hideous mask off the floor, treating the undeniably powerful and quite likely ancient artifact without any sort of esteem. She gripped Shisui’s sleeve, tossed the mask to the bed and then began to tug him out the bedroom door. “Come on, Inu-oji! We have a board game in the closet and it needs at least three players!”

 

Sakumo took a second to just stare blankly at the pleased children. Of all the reckless, shortsighted, perilous, incredulous decisions that they could have made… 

 

“Inu-oji?” It was heartbreaking how hopeful Naruto appeared to be over a family bonding activity between herself and the two shinobi.

 

_ ‘I’ll take her to task about this… tomorrow.’ _

 

x


End file.
